A governance pressure group, Advocacy for Citizens Ghana (ACG), has petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to launch investigations into the circumstances under which over GHC49 million was expended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to evacuate distressed Ghanaians from South Africa, as the ministry has not been able to proffer proper accounting for the expended amount.
The group pointed out that while Ablakwa and his ministry claim to have diligently expended the money on the exercise, including compensating each of the 1,964 evacuees with a GHC 5,500 integration and transport allowance, spending over GHC27 million on chartered flights alone, providing hotel accommodation and feeding to evacuees, amongst others, scrutiny of the ministry’s accounting documents by the minority in parliament and the media, especially Joy News, has shown that the document is replete with several discrepancies, with significant amounts of the funds not being accounted for.
According to the petition, the minority probe into the minority found that only 824 evacuees out of the 1,964 could be confirmed as having received the reintegration and transportation allowance of GHC5,500.
“This raises questions concerning the payment status of the remaining 1,140 evacuees and whether the full amount allocated for the allowances was actually disbursed to the intended beneficiaries”, the petition noted.
The petition further stated that “At a press conference held on 26th October 2026 at the Ghana International Press Centre, some evacuees reportedly stated that they slept in churches, buses and parking lots while awaiting evacuation”, contrary to the ministry’s claim of providing hotel accommodation to the evacuees, for which cost has been charged on the state.
These accounts raise questions about the circumstances surrounding the reported expenditure of GH₵141,797.86 on hotel accommodation in South Africa, particularly the number of persons accommodated, the duration of their stay and the actual services provided”, the petition emphasised.
“The Ministry also reportedly declared an expenditure of GH₵9,420,463.68 on commercial flight tickets and layover expenses for 1,964 persons. However, the supporting documentation reportedly accounts for only 1,173 persons, leaving a discrepancy involving 791 persons requiring explanation and verification”, it said.
It also said the ministry has not provided sufficient supporting documentation to independently establish the basis for theGH₵27,183,700 it claims it spent on chartered flights.
Aside from these, the petition said further scrutiny of the ministry’s documents showed several other anomalies and discrepancies, including duplicate names, passport numbers, and telephone numbers, and inconsistencies in signatures.
The group is therefore requesting CHRAJ to launch a thorough investigation into the matter to establish, among other things, the management and administration of the entire evacuation exercise; the total number of Ghanaians evacuated and their true identities; and all matters regarding expenditure under the exercise.
“The protection of public funds is a constitutional responsibility and a fundamental requirement for good governance. Public resources belong to the people of Ghana and must be managed with the highest standards of transparency, accountability, prudence and integrity”, the petition added.
It would be recalled that the government initiated a voluntary evacuation of citizens from South Africa in May 2026 following a resurgence of xenophobic attacks, intimidation and an-immigrant protests targeting African migrants, including Ghanaians, particularly in Durban and other parts of the country. The exercise, which concluded on 4 September 2026, was reported to have resulted in the evacuation of 1,964 Ghanaians amid reports of deaths, threats to personal safety and destruction of property.
The situation prompted the government to raise diplomatic concerns with South African authorities and the African Union.
However, the exercise’s expenditure has recently come under public scrutiny following allegations of potential corruption, after the minority in parliament and the independent media house Joy News examined the ministry’s evacuation documents.
The situation prompted the main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), to hold a protest march in Accra on November 3, 2026, to demand accountability in the exercise.
