South Africa xenophobia: Minority demands answers over GH¢16.4m evacuation expenditure

The Minority in Parliament has called for an independent audit of the GH¢49.72 million spent on evacuating Ghanaians from South Africa following xenophobic attacks, alleging that discrepancies in payment registers and flight records leave more than GH¢16.4 million requiring further explanation.

Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and Member of Parliament for Bosome-Freho, Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh, presented the findings after reviewing more than 200 pages of documents provided by Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa in response to a Right to Information (RTI) request.

According to the Minority, its examination identified gaps in reintegration grants, transport allowances, commercial flight records, duplicate entries and payments involving minors.

The Caucus estimates that GH¢16,423,470 of the total expenditure requires further scrutiny, representing approximately 33 per cent of the amount announced by the government.

The evacuation exercise, which ran from May 27 to September 4, 2026, reportedly brought 1,964 Ghanaians home. On September 7, Mr Ablakwa announced that the operation cost GH¢49,721,786, comprising GH¢33,721,786 in direct government funding and GH¢16 million in support attributed to Engineers & Planners, a company owned by businessman Ibrahim Mahama.

The expenditure covered chartered flights, commercial airline tickets, transportation, accommodation, feeding, medical care and reintegration support.

Mr Ayeh said the Minority’s review raised questions about whether the official number of evacuees and the expenditure could be fully reconciled with the supporting records.

He called on the Ministry to account for the apparent gaps and provide the necessary documentation to establish the accuracy of the figures.

The Minority has proposed that the audit be conducted by Deloitte Ghana, KPMG Ghana, PricewaterhouseCoopers Ghana, Ernst & Young Ghana or another reputable and independent accounting firm.

Although the Ministry has reportedly indicated that the Auditor-General was invited to audit the exercise, the Minority insists that the findings should be made public to promote transparency and restore confidence in the management of public funds.

The allegations do not establish that funds were stolen or that the number of evacuees was deliberately inflated. The discrepancies would require verification by the Ministry and an independent auditor.

The Minority’s statement also contains two different figures for the amount requiring explanation: GH¢16,423,470 in its detailed calculations and GH¢16,302,586 in its concluding demand. The difference of GH¢120,884 remains to be clarified.

The Caucus says a comprehensive reconciliation of the payment registers, flight manifests, invoices and beneficiary records is necessary to determine whether the issues stem from incomplete documentation, administrative errors or financial irregularities.