The NDC MP said the case concerned a service passport, not a diplomatic one, contradicting the Minority's claim in Parliament on Tuesday.
On the same day, the opposition NPP claimed that nearly 300 people hold diplomatic or service passports they are not entitled to.
Its Second Vice Chairman, Henry Nana Boakye, made the claim at the press conference where the party also demanded the Interior Minister's resignation.
What the Akwatia MP said about the interdicted employee
Mr Bediako, who won the Akwatia seat in a by-election last year, was responding to Damongo MP Samuel Abu Jinapor.
"Let me tell you, the issue at hand, the narrative all over, has nothing to do with a diplomatic [passport]. It has everything to do with a service passport, if they don't know the difference," he said.
He said the employee was recruited in November 2024, weeks before the current government took office, and no longer works at the ministry.
"Because the matter is under investigation, it's not even fair to the gentleman. Let's be fair," he said.
"As we speak, the gentleman is no longer working there. He's been interdicted."
He credited the Foreign Affairs Minister with moving quickly. "Those who were supposed to be interdicted were interdicted," he said, adding that others were allegedly involved besides the employee.
Mr Jinapor was ordered out of the chamber on Tuesday after alleging that diplomatic passports could be bought for between US$10,000 and US$50,000. Mr Bediako challenged him to produce evidence.
No ministry statement naming the employee or confirming the interdiction could be found by Wednesday evening.
NPP: 'close to 300' holders do not qualify
Mr Boakye, popularly known as Nana B, linked the passport issue to the recent cocaine seizures tied to Ghana.
"On this issue of diplomatic and service passports, drug cartels do not move only through ports, they move through documents," he said.
"We have evidence that close to about 300 people do not qualify to hold service or diplomatic passports," he added. Accounts of the press conference did not set out that evidence or name any of the holders.
The party wants the government to make public the details of every diplomatic and service passport issued since 2025, listing for each:
- the holder's identity or official position
- the basis on which the holder qualified
- the authority that approved it
In October, the Majority on the Foreign Affairs Committee accused the Minority of attacking the minister after he refused Nana B a service passport.
Nana B denied seeking any favour. In a statement on October 13, he said he had surrendered his service passport in line with the President's directive and had only asked for a letter to move his visas to an ordinary passport.
Minority says it will set out its evidence
Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin stood by Mr Jinapor on Wednesday. In a statement defending the Damongo MP, he said the caucus held material pointing to "false representations and apparent impersonation" in obtaining diplomatic or service passports.
He said the Minority's Foreign Affairs caucus would present that evidence so its authenticity could be tested and those named allowed to respond.
The Majority rejects the claims. Jirapa MP Cletus Seidu Dapilah, Vice Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told TV3's Daily Brief that the information the Minority had put out "is not true".
He said the committee had not been able to meet as a full house on the passport questions because Minority members had stayed away.
Who is entitled to diplomatic and service passports
The documents are governed by the Passports and Travel Certificates Act, 1967 (NLCD 155). Mr Jinapor told Parliament that only the Foreign Affairs Minister can, by law, grant a diplomatic passport.
After the change of government in January 2025, the Foreign Affairs Ministry recalled diplomatic and service passports held by former officeholders.
In May 2025, it cancelled 701 that had not been returned by the deadline: 341 diplomatic and 360 service passports. The ministry said at the time that the passports were meant only for eligible people currently serving the state.
What happens next
Mr Jinapor wants the Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, to face MPs over the claims.
No public response from the ministry to the NPP's claim about 300 holders could be found by Wednesday evening.
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