SA evacuation: Minority must prove wrongdoing before demanding Ablakwa’s resignation – Noah Adamptey 

Private legal practitioner Noah Ephraem Tetteh Adamtey has argued that calls for accountability over the GH¢49.72 million South Africa evacuation expenditure should not automatically translate into demands for Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa’s resignation.

He said allegations of financial irregularities must be investigated by the appropriate institutions before they can form the basis for conclusions about the minister’s responsibility.

Speaking on Accra-based Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily programme on Wednesday, October 28, the legal practitioner acknowledged that the Minority in Parliament had a legitimate basis to demand accountability because public funds were involved.

He, however, cautioned against treating the demand for an investigation and the call for the minister’s resignation as the same issue.

“The demand for accountability does not in itself demand a resignation from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, which is Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, because whenever we try to put those two things together, we risk conflating a number of issues,” he said.

The Minority has called for an independent audit of the expenditure, alleging discrepancies in payment registers, duplicate entries, gaps in supporting documents and inconsistencies in records relating to evacuees’ allowances.

The evacuation, which took place between May 27 and September 4, 2026, brought 1,964 Ghanaians home from South Africa following renewed xenophobic attacks.

Ablakwa previously disclosed that the exercise cost GH¢49,721,786, comprising government funding and a GH¢16 million contribution from Engineers and Planners.

The Minority has demanded Ablakwa’s resignation to allow for an impartial investigation and threatened to pursue further parliamentary action if he does not step down.

However, Adamtey stressed that the allegations raised by the opposition should first be subjected to an independent and credible investigation before any conclusion is reached on whether the minister should resign.