South Africa evacuation: Ablakwa failing to meet standards he set in opposition – Egyapa Mercer

Former Sekondi Member of Parliament Andrew Egyapa Mercer has accused Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa of failing to uphold the accountability standards he championed while in opposition amid questions over the GH¢49.72 million spent on evacuating Ghanaians from South Africa.

Egyapa Mercer argued that Ablakwa, who previously demanded transparency from public officials over government expenditure, should make available the documents covering the evacuation exercise to enable Ghanaians to scrutinise the spending.

The former New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmaker made the remarks on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme on Wednesday, October 28, amid calls by the Minority in Parliament for an independent audit of the expenditure.

The funds were used to evacuate 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa between May 27 and September 4, 2026, following renewed xenophobic attacks.

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

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

The former lawmaker questioned why the minister had not released the contracts covering the chartered flights, arguing that the public deserved access to the relevant documents to assess the expenditure.

“It's surprising how the minister who had the penchant for putting out flight details, who had the penchant for going online and procuring cost from charter companies on the president's travel, today is telling Ghanaians that he cannot put out the charter contract,” he said.

“The sermon you preached, you should have been the first, in the legitimate expectation of Ghanaians, to put out all the documents, including the contract that you signed for the charter flights, so Ghanaians can interrogate it,” he said.

The former MP argued that Ablakwa’s continued stay in office is becoming difficult to justify by the accountability standards he had set for public officials while in opposition.