“Ignore the conspiracy theorists and scaremongers” – Ablakwa on US visa restrictions reversal

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The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has urged Ghanaians to ignore the conspiracy theorists and scaremongers following the United States government’s visa restrictions reversal.

Ablakwa, some days ago, revealed that the US has reversed its visa restrictions imposed on Ghana in July this year.

Ghanaians are now eligible for five-year multiple-entry visas, along with other enhanced consular privileges.

The Minister revealed that the information was communicated to him by the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Allison Hooker, during a bilateral meeting with Ghana’s delegation at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa made this known on his social media page X on Friday, September 26. He wrote, “Big win for Ghana!

The US visa restrictions imposed on Ghana have been reversed.

Ghanaians can now be eligible for five-year multiple-entry visas and other enhanced consular privileges.

This good news was directly communicated to me by US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Allison Hooker, at a bilateral meeting earlier today, in the margins of the UN General Assembly”.

Ablakwa post added, “I am really pleased that months of high-level diplomatic negotiations has led to a successful outcome.

It will be recalled that the US imposed visa restrictions on Ghana and other countries in July this year. The affected countries were slapped with a maximum three-month single-entry visa and other limitations. In the specific case of Ghana, the Trump Administration said they were reacting to many years of visa overstays, mainly by students”.

Ablakwa described the reversal as a healthier and stronger Ghana-US relations.

However, Franklin Cudjoe, the President of Policy Think Tank, IMANI Africa, has quizzed the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, on whether the US visa reversal was all Ghana got for accepting West African US deportees.

He noted that Ablakwa could have negotiated for a good reduction of the15% tariff imposed on Ghana.

According to Franklin Cudjoe, he wished Ablakwa had not posted and celebrated the US visa restrictions reversal.

He highlighted that Ghana should not be settling for a visa pittance after President Mahama’s daring speech on Gaza.

Franklin Cudjoe, in his post on X, wrote, “ Frankly, my brother Honourable Okudzeto, I wish this had not been posted and celebrated. We had this already. Yes, I know the Trump administration threatened visa restrictions, but we could have negotiated for more, perhaps a good reduction of the 15% tariff imposed on Ghana.

He added, “Knowing that  Trump is a deal maker on almost everything and given our President’s daring , audaciously  great speech on Gaza, we should not be settling for this visa pittance. Is this all we got from taking in our deportee West African neighbours?  Anyways”

In a rebuttal, Ablakwa, in a statement on X, noted that since the reversal of US visa restrictions under President Donald Trump, false claims had continued to circulate.

He wrote, “Since Ghana became the only country under US visa restrictions to secure a reversal from the Trump Administration, an avalanche of conspiracy theories has been making the rounds.

May I respectfully ask that you ignore the conspiracy theorists and scaremongers.

We offer the following full assurances to Ghanaians:

1) Ghana will not be a dumping ground for US removals;

2) Ghana is not accepting criminals from the US;

3) The understanding with the US government to accept a very limited number of pre-vetted West African nationals without criminal backgrounds is consistent with our ECOWAS protocols and Pan-African credentials. It should be noted that, regardless of this arrangement, West African nationals are allowed to enter Ghana without visas;

4) Our mutually beneficial deal with the US government will not undermine Ghana’s security and stability in anyway;

5) Claims that our ongoing negotiations with the US focuses solely on receiving US removals are false. The negotiations I am leading on President Mahama’s instruction includes a strong case for a reassessment of the 15% tariff imposed on Ghana, additionally we are negotiating a special Ghana-US trade deal, engaging on specific requests from US companies and holding fruitful talks on the future of AGOA which is of immense importance to Ghanaian garment companies.

The Mahama Administration deeply cares for you — we shall keep working tirelessly to protect our strategic national interest, and we shall ensure our best efforts benefit all Ghanaians”, his statement added.  

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