Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sabah Zita Benson, has announced the establishment of a Customer Service Desk at the Ghana High Commission in London to address longstanding complaints over poor customer relations and service delivery.
The move comes at a critical time, as persistent concerns about customer service have increasingly overshadowed the High Commission’s engagement with Ghanaian citizens in the UK. Over the years, reports of unanswered calls, delays, and unsatisfactory interactions have drawn public criticism and eroded confidence in the mission’s consular services.
In 2019, Ghanaian musician and current Gomoa Central Member of Parliament, Kwame A-Plus, publicly criticised the High Commission in a widely circulated Facebook post, describing its services as “a pain in the butt of Ghanaians” and alleging rudeness, incompetence, and unhelpful conduct by staff.
The establishment of the Customer Service Desk also aligns with a broader directive from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which, through a Note Verbale, instructed all Ghanaian missions abroad to implement measures aimed at improving service delivery and ensuring humane treatment of clients—particularly Ghanaian citizens.
The directive followed numerous complaints relating to long waiting times, inadequate waiting facilities, lack of emergency services, and difficulties navigating visa application systems at foreign missions.
Speaking on the initiative, High Commissioner Benson described the Customer Service Desk as a foundational intervention necessary to realign the mission’s objectives and safeguard broader diplomatic and bilateral engagements that could be undermined by unresolved customer service challenges.
She assured the public that complaints about unanswered calls and poor responsiveness would soon be a thing of the past, stressing that addressing consular service deficiencies remains her immediate priority.
“Since I’ve been here, my priority for now, for start, has been to handle the problems that we have with consular services. Complaints had to do with our calls not being answered and so I have set up a dedicated customer service deck just to take care of customers’ queries and information and so on.” she said.
The High Commissioner further noted that resolving these operational issues would provide the necessary clarity and focus to advance Ghana–UK cooperation in key areas such as growth, investment, and economic partnerships.
“And so those are some of the issues I just want the public to know that we are working on the complaints. They complained and I have heard and I’m working at it. So the service is going to get better and once I’m able to put that in place, I can have the peace of mind to now move on to the bigger things which has to do with growth and investments and the economy and other things that we deal with as a mission,” she added.
High Commissioner Sabah Zita Benson is Ghana’s first female High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and also holds concurrent accreditation to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
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