Visa victory or missed opportunity? Franklin Cudjoe blasts government’s ‘pittance’ celebration

The recent diplomatic victory—the restoration of five-year multiple-entry US visas for Ghanaian citizens—has been sharply criticised by the President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, who argues the government settled for a “visa pittance” when it should have leveraged the negotiation for substantial trade concessions.

The announcement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, to celebrate the lifting of visa restrictions was met with public enthusiasm, as the US had previously limited Ghanaian travellers to restrictive three-month, single-entry visas.

The initial US sanction was officially attributed to persistent issues with visa overstays, particularly among Ghanaian students.

For context, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data from Fiscal Year 2017 indicated a total overstay rate of 1.33% for air and sea nonimmigrant admissions, with students and exchange visitors (F, M, or J visa holders) having a significantly higher overstay rate of 4.15%.

Mr. Cudjoe, however, dismissed the minister’s celebration as shortsighted, taking to his official Facebook page to highlight what he sees as a massive failure in economic diplomacy.

He insisted that the government should have pursued a reduction in the tariff rates imposed on Ghanaian exports to the United States.

“Frankly, my brother Honourable Okudzeto, I wish this had not been posted and celebrated. We had this already. Yes, I know the Trump administration threatened visa restrictions, but we could have negotiated for more, perhaps a good reduction of the 15% tariff imposed on Ghana,” Cudjoe stated.

While the specific US tariff on all Ghanaian exports varies, the general trade environment at the time included various levies and duties, making the pursuit of preferential tariff reduction, especially under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) framework, a critical economic goal.

Mr Cudjoe further argued that the Ghanaian government failed to capitalise on a moment of significant geopolitical leverage, specifically citing President Mahama’s widely praised “audaciously great speech on Gaza” at the United Nations General Assembly.

The economic commentator suggested that US President Donald Trump, known for his transactional approach to foreign policy, was ripe for a high-value “deal.”

“Knowing that Trump is a deal maker on almost everything and given our President’s daring, audaciously great speech on Gaza, we should not be settling for this visa pittance,” he added, positing that a bold diplomatic push could have secured a tangible, multi-million dollar economic benefit for Ghana.

The IMANI President also questioned whether the visa restoration came as a trade-off for Ghana’s controversial agreement with the United States regarding the acceptance of West African deportees.

In what has been described as a contentious Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Ghana agreed to accept non-Ghanaian West African nationals deported from the US—a move critics say was designed by the Trump administration to circumvent its own immigration laws, particularly for individuals with pending asylum claims or legal protections.

The first tranche of deportees received by Ghana included individuals from nations like Nigeria and Gambia.

Mr Cudjoe linked this move to the diplomatic concession: “Is this all we got from taking in our deportee West African neighbours? Anyways,” he quipped, implying the visa restoration was a minimal return for taking on a complex and politically sensitive humanitarian and immigration challenge.

The diplomatic spat underscores a core debate in Ghanaian foreign policy: should diplomatic success be measured by improvements in citizen mobility or by the securing of substantial economic and trade advantages?

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