The Minority in Parliament has called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide an itemised account of the GH¢49.7 million reportedly spent on the evacuation and reintegration of Ghanaians from South Africa.
The Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and Member of Parliament for Damongo, Samuel Abu Jinapor, said the disclosure of the total expenditure must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown to enable Parliament and the Ghanaian public to understand how the funds were utilised.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the government spent a total of GH¢49,721,786 to evacuate 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa.
The Minister disclosed that GH¢38,835,512 was spent on chartered flights, air tickets, ground transportation, feeding, hotel accommodation, medical care and hospitalisation in South Africa.
However, Mr Jinapor said while the Minority had supported the government’s decision to evacuate Ghanaian citizens from South Africa from the outset, that support should not be interpreted as a waiver of the need for transparency and accountability.
“From the onset, we affirmed our support for the government in its decision to evacuate citizens in South Africa,” he stressed.
He said transparency and value for money were critical, particularly given the amount reportedly spent on the exercise.
“Transparency is absolutely important. Value for money is important,” Mr Jinapor said.
“If you take the figures the Ministry has put out, they are suggesting that they spent close to GH¢50 million to evacuate about 2,000 Ghanaians. If you do the arithmetic, it means the government spent GH¢25,000 per evacuee,” he said.
The lawmaker said the calculation made it particularly important for the Ministry to publish details of the expenditure.
“It will be useful for the Ministry to put out the details. It is very much in the interest of transparency, good governance and national interest for us to know what went into the expenditure,” he stated.
He disclosed that the Minority had already taken formal steps to obtain the expenditure details, including invoking the Right to Information Act.
“We, the Minority, as far back as a month and a half ago, acted pursuant to the provisions of the Right to Information Act and requested the details of this expenditure, including an itemised bill. We have even filed questions in Parliament,” he said.
According to the Damongo MP, the request for an itemised bill was therefore not a new demand but part of the Minority’s ongoing efforts to ensure accountability over the evacuation exercise.
“It is in the Ministry’s own interest and in the interest of good governance and our democracy for the Ministry to put out an itemised bill of what went into this bulk expenditure,” he added.
The Minority’s demand comes amid public interest in the cost of the evacuation exercise, which followed security concerns and xenophobic attacks affecting Ghanaian nationals in South Africa.
Mr Jinapor maintained that the Minority recognised the government’s responsibility to protect Ghanaians abroad and therefore supported the evacuation decision. However, he argued that such responsibility must be matched by accountability in the use of public resources.
The Minority says the call for an itemised bill is expected to give Parliament and the public a clearer picture of how the GH¢49.7 million was spent.
