The Minority caucus has questioned the legal basis for a demand by Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa for former Ghanaian Ambassador to the United States, Hajia Alima Mahama, to refund monies linked to activities at the Ghana Embassy in Washington.

Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel A. Jinapor, said the demand appears to cover expenditure outside the former ambassador’s tenure.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Damongo MP said it supports accountability and the recovery of public funds.

However, it insisted that any such action must follow due process.

The concerns follow a Special Audit Report by the Auditor-General on the Ghana Embassy in Washington covering January 2017 to June 2025.

The report followed investigations into alleged financial and operational irregularities at the mission.

The Foreign Affairs Minister subsequently wrote to Hajia Alima Mahama demanding a refund of monies allegedly arising from the audit.

But the Minority is challenging the procedure adopted by the Minister.

It argues that the Constitution vests the power of disallowance and surcharge solely in the Auditor-General.

“Article 187 of our national Constitution establishes the Office of the Auditor-General and guarantees its independence. The power of disallowance and surcharge following an audit is vested solely in the Auditor-General under Article 187(7)”.

The Minority therefore questioned the authority under which the Foreign Affairs Minister demanded the refund.

It further argued that even where the Auditor-General imposes a surcharge, the affected person has 60 days to either pay or appeal to the High Court.

“The procedure adopted by the Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs seeks to circumvent this laid procedure and curtail the former Ambassador's appeal against surcharges,” the statement said.

Jinapor also raised concerns about the former ambassador’s claim that she was not given an opportunity to respond to the audit findings.

The statement quoted Mahama as saying: "The auditors neither spoke to me nor wrote to me to respond to any issue/observation.”

The Minority said due process required that she be given a hearing before conclusions were reached.

It also questioned why the demand covers embassy activities from 2019 to 2025, when the current Foreign Affairs Minister was in office only from June 2021 to November 2024.

“Nowhere in the audit report is it suggested that the amounts being demanded occurred only during the tenure of Ms. Mahama,” the statement said.

“Why will the former Ambassador be held accountable for matters that occurred prior to her assumption of office and those that occurred after leaving office?”

Hajia Alima Mahama was appointed Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States in June 2021. She had previously served as Minister for Local Government and Rural Development from 2017 to 2021.

The Minority also noted that the Special Audit Report had not been laid before Parliament at the time of its statement.

It said this was required under Section 16 of the Audit Service Act.

“This demand is, also, being made on the former Ambassador when no personal or joint liability has been established against her,” the statement added.

The Minority accused the government of repeatedly proceeding ahead of established due process and publicly pronouncing people guilty before legal processes are completed.

“The procedures prescribed by our Constitution and laws are not technicalities to be dispensed with when inconvenient,” it said.

The Minority maintained that it would support lawful efforts to recover public funds but insisted that such efforts must comply with the law.