The Africa Development Council (ADC) has criticised what it describes as blatant recklessness and self-serving leadership by the Akufo-Addo regime, particularly in the management of Ghana’s foreign affairs and diplomatic infrastructure.

In a statement on Tuesday morning, the Council accused the former administration of abandoning state-owned diplomatic residencies while racking up avoidable hotel bills at the taxpayers’ expense.

“Residencies of Regional Coordinating Councils were left to rot, while personal hotels were used instead, with the State footing the bills,” the statement charged.

According to the ADC, the mismanagement extended to foreign missions, where ambassadorial residencies were reportedly left to decay while diplomats opted for hotel accommodations.

“Most foreign residencies for ambassadors were left unattended, while hotels were rented instead during the tenure of such ambassadors,” the Council noted, citing a recent case in the Russian Federation.

The ADC is calling on the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) to investigate and recover all public funds used on hotel stays that could have been avoided.

“The ADC has strongly advised the ORAL Team to investigate and retrieve all sums of money that were unnecessarily billed to the State,” the statement said.

The Council did not stop at just a probe. It demanded urgent diplomatic reforms under the current regime, including a complete recall or reshuffle of all Ghanaian diplomatic staff posted abroad.

“The current regime must, as a matter of urgency, recall or reshuffle all diplomatic staff of Ghana across the globe,” the Council urged.

In what it sees as a gross missed opportunity, the ADC revealed that Ghana had been gifted plots of land for embassy development in certain countries, including Russia, under reciprocal diplomatic arrangements.

However, these opportunities were ignored. “In some cases, Ghana was given plots of land to build her own embassy…yet those plots of land still remain unutilised,” the statement lamented.

The Council warned that such leadership failures reflect a deeper problem of short-term, selfish governance.

“It is time the leadership of the country began to think beyond the current generation, in order to do away with the ad hoc style of leadership,” it concluded.