Officials of the Ghana Embassy in Washington, US, have denied allegations that the mission had given state vehicles to Nana Akufo-Addo for use during a fund raising campaign in the US. The Enquirer newspaper had reported in its Friday June 5, 2008 edition that the Ghana Embassy in Washington had allocated luxurious black Cadillac cars for the use of Nana Addo, the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) when he attended a fund raising function organised for him by the Whitaker Group, the company owned by Lady Rosa, the new wife of Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams. The fund raising event according to the newspaper was to raise money to support Nana Addo’s campaign to win power in the 2008 general elections. The newspaper argued that under the laws of Ghana, foreign sponsorship of political parties is illegal. The newspaper backed its report with photographs showing Nana Addo and his entourage arriving in the cars with Embassy staff. Following the newspaper report, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has protested the use of state resources for a political party’s presidential candidate and have called on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the matter. The CHRAJ has since responded by asking that an official complaint should be lodged with evidence for it to begin investigations. But Embassy officials say they did no wrong. Ghana’s Ambassador to the US, Kwame Bawuah Adu Osei says the report is unfortunate, because the Embassy is obliged to provide courtesies to all state officials, including MPs who come to the US on official duties. Speaking to Joy News he said Mr. Osafo-Marfo, Dr. Kofi Apraku and Nana Akuffo-Addo were attending two official functions in Washington for which the Embassy provided transport, but the other members of the team used private transport. He also added that even though, the Embassy was obliged to provide transport to the MPs from the airport to their hotels, it was the NPP that provided private transport for Nana Akufo-Addo from the airport to his hotel. Mr. Osei cited the example of Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP). He said when Dr. Nduom was in the States recently, the Embassy provided transport for him as well. By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi.