Minority Seeks Independent Audit of GH¢49.72m South Africa Evacuation Exercise
Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh, Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, has called for an independent audit of the government’s GH¢49.72 million evacuation exercise in South Africa, citing discrepancies in records provided by the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The Bosome-Freho MP said a review of documents released in response to a Right to Information (RTI) request had raised questions about reintegration grants, transport allowances, flight records, duplicate entries and payments involving minors. The Minority argues that more than GH¢16.4 million requires further explanation and says the records do not fully reconcile with the government’s reported expenditure and 1,964 evacuees. It has stressed, however, that the discrepancies do not in themselves establish that money was stolen or beneficiary numbers deliberately inflated, and has called for the underlying records to be verified.
The evacuation followed renewed xenophobic violence and intimidation against foreign nationals in South Africa. The Foreign Affairs Ministry said the exercise ran from May 27 to September 4, 2026, and cost GH¢49,721,786, comprising GH¢33,721,786 in government funding and GH¢16 million in support attributed to Engineers & Planners, owned by businessman Ibrahim Mahama. The expenditure covered flights, transport, accommodation, feeding, medical care and reintegration assistance, including a GH¢5,000 grant and GH¢500 transport allowance for each evacuee. After receiving more than 200 pages of documents from the Ministry, Mr Ayeh said the Minority examined the records and found that only 824 names could be matched across the registers for the two payments. The resulting gap of 1,140 people represents GH¢6.27 million at the combined rate of GH¢5,500 per person. The Minority wants the Ministry to clarify whether the discrepancies stem from incomplete records, missing signatures, separate payment arrangements or other circumstances, and has requested detailed expenditure records, payment registers, flight manifests and procurement documents to support a full accounting.
