Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, on Monday (25 May) dismissed claims that the government had breached an existing agreement in the rollout of the country’s new electronic visa system, saying no such contract existed.

Speaking at the launch of the e-Visa portal in Accra, Ablakwa said concerns circulating on social media over a possible breach of contract and exposure to judgment debt were unfounded.

“There is no such existing e-visa contract, nothing of the sort exists,” he said.

According to the minister, government checks and consultations with legal authorities, including the Attorney General, confirmed that an earlier agreement related only to machine-readable visa stickers and not to an electronic visa platform.

“The Attorney General’s opinion is that that does not represent an e-visa arrangement,” Ablakwa said.

He said the previous machine-readable visa sticker contract was fundamentally different from the new digital visa system being introduced.

“There will be no judgment debt, no contract has been cancelled anywhere,” he added.

Ablakwa said the e-Visa system was being implemented under a public-private partnership arrangement in which a private partner would finance and deploy the platform under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications, the National Information Technology Agency and the Cyber Security Authority.

“It’s a PPP arrangement,” he said. “Taxpayers have not been burdened.”

According to the minister, the private partner would recover its investment over time through the operation of the system, allowing the government to modernise visa processing without incurring upfront costs.

The government says the e-Visa platform is expected to improve efficiency, strengthen security and streamline Ghana’s visa application process.