A member of the communications team of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Stephen Fiifi Boafo, has questioned the accounting for monies disbursed during the evacuation of Ghanaians from South Africa.
He says there are discrepancies in the number of persons accounted for and those who actually signed for reintegration and transportation support.
Citing a press statement by the Minority Caucus which referenced documents received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fiifi Boafo questioned the whereabouts of the remaining funds reportedly distributed to the evacuees, following discrepancies in the figures.
Speaking on the BigIssue segment on the NewDay morning show on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, Fiifi Boafo noted that the figures presented by the Ministry do not add up.
He said the documents presented by the Foreign Affairs Minister showed that 1,508 beneficiaries out of the 1,964, signed for the reintegration money, questioning the whereabouts of the remaining numbers.
“We are told there are about 1,964. The people who were given money for reintegration I understand, is about 1,500. So where is the remaining amount of money?” he asked, clarifying that those who were actually given the reintegration fund were 1,508.
“It’s actually 1,508. Standard practice, the people who took the money, they were supposed to sign, they didn’t sign,” he alleged.
The former Head of Public Affairs for the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) further raised concerns about the transportation allowance, stating that only 1,100 people signed for it.
“Based on the documents that were presented by the Minister himself, 1,100 signed. Where are the remaining about 800 of them? They did not sign,” he remarked, questioning why standard accounting procedures were not followed in disbursing government funds.
“Why would you give out government money without ensuring that the people indeed followed practice? It calls for some questions. Why did they not sign?” he queried.
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.
Minority demands Ablakwa’s resignation over South Africa evacuation expenditure
