The former Deputy Foreign Minister, Charles Owiredu, has strongly dismissed claims by the current Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, regarding the timeline for processing Ghanaian visas.

In a response to recent statements made by Mr. Ablakwa, who announced new reforms aimed at reducing Ghana's visa processing time to five working days, Mr. Owiredu clarified that it was never true that visa applications took up to six weeks to process under the previous Akufo-Addo administration.

In a post on X, he said, "Hon Foreign Minister, please get your facts right. It is never true that it took up to 6 weeks to process Ghana visa applications. It has always been between 2 to 5 days."

"The exception would be when the application is incomplete, but even with that, the process never took 6 weeks to complete."

Mr. Owiredu further stated that under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo, Ghana had implemented progressive measures such as visa on arrival during initiatives like the Year of Return and Detty December for travelers, especially the diaspora.

“Under President Akufo-Addo, we even encouraged visa on arrival for the Year of Return and Detty December revellers,” Owiredu added.

These comments come after the Foreign Minister's recent announcement of a new visa processing policy which aims to reduce wait times and make Ghana more accessible to international visitors and investors.

However, Mr. Owiredu’s comments suggest that the current administration's claims about previous processing delays may not be entirely accurate.