The Director of Communications for the United Party, Solomon Owusu, has criticised calls by the Minority in Parliament for the resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, over the South Africa evacuation expenditure.
He says like their previous allegations, the Minority has failed to point to any figure or amount that was misappropriated by the Minister to demand his resignation.
Speaking on the BigIssue segment on the NewDay morning show on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, Owusu noted that the demand for the Minority’s call for Ablakwa’s resignation is unjustified.
According to him, the caucus is yet to establish any serious infraction against the Minister. “None of them have pointed to any figure, none of them have pointed to any amount that has been corruptly taken. None of them have pointed to any serious infraction yet they say the man must resign,” he said.
Owusu also dismissed claims by the Minority that some signatures on the evacuation payment registers were fake.
He described the claim as childish, arguing that the Minority cannot determine the authenticity of signatures without the original.
“How can a signature be fake when you don’t have the original? That was the most childish thing I’ve heard,” he indicated, adding that the decision by Samuel Abu Jinapor to lead the press conference was a face-saving attempt.
“The truth of the matter is that, Abu Jinapor doing the press conference was a face-saving…he has shown that he is a very weak leader,” he said.
Background
The Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, evacuated 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa between May 27 and September 4, 2026, following reported xenophobic attacks.
The Ministry said the exercise cost GH¢49,721,786, with GH¢33.7 million coming from government and GH¢16 million from Engineers & Planners as private support. The amount covered flights, accommodation, feeding and reintegration support.
Each evacuee was to receive GH¢5,000 as reintegration support and GH¢500 for transportation.
The Minority in Parliament, after filing a Right to Information request and receiving over 200 pages of documents from the Ministry, raised concerns about the expenditure.
At a press conference on October 11 and a follow-up on October 27, 2026, led by Ranking Member Samuel Abu Jinapor and Deputy Ranking Member Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh, the caucus claimed more than GH¢16.4 million of the expenditure requires further explanation, citing gaps in payment registers, duplicate entries, missing signatures and discrepancies in flight manifests.
The caucus is demanding that the sector Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, resigns, and have threatened a vote of censure should he refuse.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has requested a special audit by the Auditor-General into the evacuation.
SA evacuation: Minority threatens censure motion against Ablakwa if he fails to resign
