South Africa evacuation: Ablakwa has committed no crime; he's going nowhere – Franklin Cudjoe

Founding President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has dismissed calls for the resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa over alleged discrepancies in expenditure on the evacuation of Ghanaians from South Africa.

He has defended the minister’s performance, describing him as the most effective Foreign Affairs Minister Ghana has had since 1992.

Mr Cudjoe made the remarks in a social media post on Wednesday, October 28, following renewed calls by the Minority in Parliament for Mr Ablakwa to resign or be dismissed over the handling of the evacuation exercise.

“None, no one shouting and making noise has so far been able to convince any sensible Ghanaian that the Foreign Minister has committed any crime in the humanitarian evacuation of Ghanaians from South Africa,” he wrote.

The calls for the minister’s resignation were made by the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Abu Jinapor, at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, October 27.

The Minority is demanding an independent audit of the GH¢49.72 million spent on evacuating 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa between May 27 and September 4, 2026, following renewed xenophobic attacks.

The caucus has raised concerns about alleged discrepancies in payment registers, duplicate entries, missing supporting receipts and claims by some evacuees that they did not receive the full reintegration and transport allowances recorded against their names.

The government had announced a package of GH¢5,000 for reintegration and GH¢500 for transport for each returnee.

However, the Minority says the records it examined raise questions about whether all the payments were made as reported.

Reacting to the controversy, the policy analyst criticised those calling for the minister’s removal and expressed strong support for his continued stay in office.

“Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is going NOWHERE! He remains our most diligent, effective, efficient and impactful Foreign Minister since 1992!” he stated.