An International Diplomatic Consultant, Al Wahab Farouk, has said the Foreign Affairs Ministry has done the country a great dis-service for not having any consulate to provide consular services for Ghanaians living in the Kurdistan province of Iraq.
His reaction follows the arrest of four Ghanaian suspects who are facing a death penalty for trafficking into the country food items suspected to be laced with narcotics in Kurdistan.
The four suspects – Bismark Appiah popularly known as Osofo, Evans Akoto known in the community as Agala, who are both natives of Offinso in the Ashanti Region are in custody together with Naomi Osei Serwaa and Grace Tiwaah.
They were picked up on Tuesday, December 7, 2021 by a Kurdish security organization and primary intelligence agency called Asayish.
Explaining why he holds this view, he told Kofi Adoma Nwanwani on the Anopa Bofo morning show that “if we have 6,000 Ghanaians in Kurdistan then I am telling the foreign ministry that, you have done a great dis-service to this country.
He was worried over the non-availability of a Ghanaian Embassy to protect the people in their trying times when they would be seeking for “ordinary consulate or a consulate general” for counsel or support services as indigenes in the Western Asian county.
According to him, if the foreign ministry was a serious sector seeking the welfare of these migrants, they would have had knowledge of their traveling arrangements.
On this count, Mr. Farouk could not fathom why a country like Kurdistan that has no Ghanaian embassy has more of it citizens living in the country compared to that of Ghanaians in Israel, Kuwait and Jordan.
The former Accra Hearts of Oak chairman and international football consultant is therefore admonishing leaders of Ghana to as a matter of urgency take steps by embarking on a diplomatic protest to plead for clemency on behalf of the suspects to save them from the death penalty.
Amidst finding immediate measures to the situation, Al Wahab Farouk believes there should be a counter statement from the Foreign Affairs Ministry to that of the Kurdistan statement on the matter in a “diplomatic angle” before engaging their department of foreign ministry for a resolution on the development.
He then suggested a diplomatic approach by registering it protests through the foreign missions to draw attention of the country to international protocols and the rights of the Ghanaian Nationals.
