Claim: Comments by President Mahama and the Vice President have triggered the US consideration of a Travel ban on Ghana
Source: Social Media
Verdict: False
Researched by Samuel Nii Adjetey
Following the announcement that the Trump administration is considering a ban on some 36 countries, including Ghana, GhanaFact has monitored social media narratives seeking to attribute the US move to previous statements by Ghana’s president and Vice President.
On May 18, 2025, The Washington Post reported that an internal memo signed by Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, had outlined benchmarks the 36 countries must meet within 60 days to avoid visa bans or other restrictions.
Some social media users claim that, in the case of Ghana, the looming sanction was a direct response to recent criticism directed at American President Donald Trump by President John Dramani Mahama and Vice President Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang.
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This report will investigate whether there is a correlation between the potential travel ban and comments by the President and Vice President.
Fact-check
On March 17, 2025, the Vice President met visiting students from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the Jubilee House.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, while addressing a question on foreign aid, said, “Somebody (a student) is asking (about) the outside world and foreign aid, and I’ve heard the president of the country you’re studying in is slashing aid.
“One of the questions he hasn’t asked himself is, how much leaves our continent to his country? They think it’s just charity. It is not. At the right time, we’ll also take action, and it will not be funny.” (watch from 3:26 seconds onwards)
Also, on May 21 2025, President John Dramani Mahama published an article on The UK Guardian website offering a reflection on the importance of preserving historical truth and resisting efforts to distort Africa‘s past, following a meeting between Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
President Mahama critiqued Trump’s unfounded claims of white genocide in South Africa and highlighted how such narratives dangerously erase centuries of Black suffering under colonisation and apartheid.
Reasons the US was mulling a travel ban
According to a Department of State memo obtained by The Washington Post, President Trump was considering expanding the U.S. travel ban to include citizens from 36 additional countries, including Ghana.
The proposed restrictions target 25 African nations as well as others in the Caribbean, Central Asia, and the Pacific. The US government cited the following concerns as basis for the possible ban.
- Weak identity systems
- High visa overstay rates
- Alleged anti-American or antisemitic activities.
To avert being slapped with the ban, the US government according to the memo was going to give these countries 60 days to meet new benchmarks, including improving documentation systems or agreeing to accept third-country deportees.
From the above, there is no correlation between the US plan to slap Ghana with a travel ban and critical comments President Mahama and the Vice President, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang have made about Trump in the past few months.
Verdict
Therefore, the claim is rated False!
