Nana Ayeh Asafo-Adjei with Frank Annoh-Dompreh
The Minority in Parliament has questioned the reported GH¢49 million expenditure incurred by the government in evacuating Ghanaians from South Africa, demanding documentary evidence to reconcile the various figures associated with the exercise.
The Minority said although it supported the government’s decision to bring home Ghanaians whose lives and livelihoods were at risk, the financial account of the operation must be supported by detailed records to enable Parliament and the public to verify the expenditure.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament yesterday, the Deputy Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Nana Ayeh Asafo-Adjei, said the Minority was not alleging fraud but was seeking clarification on discrepancies in the government’s accounts.
He said the Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, had disclosed on September 7 that 1,964 Ghanaians were evacuated at a total cost of GH¢49,000,721.76.
According to the figures disclosed by the government, GH¢38,000,335.512 was spent on chartered flights, commercial air tickets, ground transportation, feeding, hotel accommodation, medical care and hospitalisation.
Another GH¢10,000,802 was spent on reintegration and transportation allowances, with each evacuee receiving GH¢5,000 for reintegration and GH¢500 for transportation.
The government also reported that GH¢84,274 was spent on repatriating two mortal remains, while Engineers and Planners (E&P) contributed GH¢60 million towards the exercise.
Mr. Asafo-Adjei said the Minority welcomed the minister’s disclosure but maintained that the headline figures alone were insufficient to establish a complete public account.
He said the Minority’s concerns centred on the need to reconcile the passenger records with the payment records and establish how the final figure of 1,964 evacuees was arrived at.
Mr. Asafo-Adjei, who is also the MP for Bosome-Freho, noted that the GH¢10,000,802 paid as reintegration and transportation allowances, when divided by the GH¢5,500 package given to each evacuee, produced exactly 1,964 beneficiaries.
He said that created two records which should correspond: a travel ledger showing the people actually evacuated and a payment ledger showing those who received the GH¢5,500 package.
“We are not saying today that the two ledgers are different. We are saying government should produce them so the country can establish that they are the same,” he said.
The Deputy Ranking Member also raised concerns about the figures for the first phase of the evacuation, saying information from different sources did not currently reconcile.
He cited South African Border Management Authority records which indicated that 322 passengers boarded the Saturday charter and 340 boarded the Sunday charter.
He said Ghana’s contemporary public account subsequently put the first-phase arrivals at 297, 340 and 342, totalling 979, while the Foreign Affairs Minister later described the same first phase as involving 926 people.
He, therefore, demanded an authoritative passenger manifest to establish the actual number of people evacuated during the first phase.
The Minority also questioned the absence of a batch-by-batch account of the second phase, which was conducted mainly through commercial flights.
Mr. Asafo-Adjei said the government had announced that the second phase began on July 26, with 180 people arriving by July 28, 2026 and more than 600 having been returned by August 12, 2026.
He said the government had also described 87 returnees as the 11th batch under the second phase by August 17, 2026, but had not provided a comprehensive schedule showing the dates, airlines, passenger numbers, ticket costs and payment arrangements for the various batches.
He cited the August 14 Air Tanzania flight, which reportedly carried 50 returnees, as a specific transaction for which the government should provide the booking and payment records.
The Minority wants to know who issued the tickets, who received the payment, who paid the invoice and the total cost of the movement.
It also demanded details of the reported GH¢60 million contribution from Engineers and Planners, including the specific passenger batches, invoices, airlines and expenditure categories covered by the contribution.
On procurement, Mr. Asafo-Adjei said the emergency nature of the evacuation did not remove the need for proper documentation.
He said emergency procurement could justify speed or exceptional procedures where permitted by law, but there should still be approval trails, supplier identities, contracts or booking records, invoices and evidence of payment.
The Minority further called for an operational breakdown of the GH¢38 million expenditure into flight tickets, ground operations, feeding, accommodation, medical care and hospitalisation.
It also wants government to provide records showing the amount of contingency funding authorised and released and how that funding reconciles with the reported government contribution to the exercise.
Mr. Asafo-Adjei said the Minority had already submitted a Right To Information (RTI) request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeking documents relating to the evacuation, expenditure, funding authorisation, private contributions, flights, procurement and reintegration.
He said the subsequent disclosure by the minister did not replace or withdraw the earlier RTI request.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House