The New Patriotic Party has petitioned the United States to suspend diplomatic courtesies for holders of Ghanaian diplomatic and service passports. In a commentary, Evans Mawunyo Tsikata calls the decision disturbing and disappointing and says it raises questions about Ghana's sovereignty.
Tsikata writes that if allegations over the issuing of service passports are proved, those responsible should face investigation and possible sanctions. He says public office must not be abused and official travel documents must not be obtained through false representations. He lists Ghana's own avenues, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Parliament, the Auditor-General, investigative bodies and the courts, and asks why the NPP wants a foreign government to restrict Ghanaian passport holders.
He argues that the petition looks less like a defence of the national interest than an attempt to secure foreign involvement in a domestic political dispute. He links it to concerns about political vindictiveness, poor judgment and the risk to Ghana's international reputation for partisan advantage.
The commentary sets that dispute against the history of the political tradition from which the NPP traces its ancestry. The United Gold Coast Convention operated within the British colonial constitutional system in the Gold Coast era. Led by figures including J.B. Danquah, it petitioned the colonial administration for constitutional reforms and self-government. After the 1948 disturbances, the colonial authorities arrested the Big Six, including Kwame Nkrumah and J.B. Danquah. Disagreements between the UGCC and Nkrumah's Convention People's Party later deepened over the pace and direction of independence.
Tsikata says petitioning a colonial authority for constitutional reform was not, in itself, an act of betrayal. His stated lesson is that political rivalry becomes dangerous when external powers are invited to act in domestic disputes. He argues that independence in 1957 should have committed Ghana's leaders to protect the country's sovereignty, yet partisan interests can still become entangled with dealings with Western governments.
He recalls a separate row after former president Nana Akufo-Addo, speaking in Washington in December 2022 alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, made remarks about alleged Wagner Group activities in Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso summoned Ghana's ambassador and later recalled its own ambassador for consultations. Tsikata says regional security threats need serious attention, but claims of that kind require discretion, especially when they affect neighbouring African countries.
He says a responsible opposition would seek an independent audit, parliamentary scrutiny and the submission of credible evidence to Ghanaian authorities, while the NPP has instead invited American scrutiny and the possibility of punitive treatment of Ghanaian passport holders. He argues that Justin Kodua Frimpong, as general secretary, should show maturity, restraint and sound judgment, and that opposition politics cannot justify conduct that undermines Ghana's standing. He concludes that Ghana is larger than the NPP's electoral ambitions and its hostility towards the NDC, and that national interest should come before political hatred.