Foreign Affairs Ministry seeks special audit of evacuations since 2017 after South Africa operation

Pinned summary · as of 16:45

Ghana's Foreign Affairs Ministry has asked the Auditor-General to audit every evacuation it has run since 2017, starting with the return of 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa this year. The request came as the ministry answered Minority questions on how the GH₵49,721,786 operation was funded and spent.

What we know

• Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa requested that the Auditor-General examine the South Africa operation together with earlier evacuations dating to 2017, among them the 2020 COVID-19 repatriations, the 2022 exercise for Ghanaians in Ukraine and the 2023 operation in Sudan.
• The Ministry put the total cost of bringing 1,964 Ghanaians home from South Africa at GH₵49,721,786. The exercise ran from 27 May to 4 September 2026.
• Of that sum, GH₵38,835,512 went on flights, ground transport, feeding, hotels and medical care, GH₵10.802 million on reintegration and travel allowances, and GH₵84,274 on returning the remains of two Ghanaians who died. Government paid GH₵33.72 million and the company Engineers and Planners added GH₵16 million.
• In reply to a Right to Information request from the Parliamentary Minority, the Ministry supplied a document of more than 200 pages on Friday, 18 September 2026, and said it holds receipts and the details of the returnees.
• The Ministry also said it sent a full report to Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.
• The Ministry said its records place the South Africa operation among its cheapest evacuations, noting that quarantine alone cost GH₵44,460,530 in 2020. It called the exercise its most transparent to date.
• Four Ghanaians lost their lives amid the anti-foreigner violence and threats in parts of South Africa, according to the government.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  The Vaultz News reported that each returnee received GH₵5,000 for reintegration and GH₵500 for travel, and that Engineers and Planners is owned by businessman Ibrahim Mahama. Neither detail appears in other reports.
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  Kumasi Mail, citing documents seen by MyJoyOnline, said the audit request was dated 17 September; other reports give no date. The Vaultz News noted that the Auditor-General has not said when an audit could start or how long it would last.
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  Kumasi Mail reported that the Minority says it filed its information request on 17 August and that the Ministry received it on 25 August, and that the caucus would stay away from a planned closed-door briefing unless spending records were released. No other report confirms this.
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  Reports differ on how the Minority frames its concern. The Vaultz News quoted Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh as saying the caucus was not alleging fraud but wanted differences between public accounts explained, while Kumasi Mail said Samuel Abu Jinapor backed the evacuation but wanted spending supported by detailed records.
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  Kumasi Mail said the report handed over covers more than 1,900 evacuees, whereas the Ministry itself refers to 1,964 people; the difference has not been explained.

Why it matters for Ghana

Nearly GH₵50 million in public and private money paid for the return of Ghanaian families from South Africa, so taxpayers have a stake in seeing how each cedi was used. An audit by the Auditor-General, if carried out, would let Parliament and the public check spending across several evacuations rather than rely on the Ministry's own account. The outcome will also shape how quickly and at what cost Ghana can bring citizens home in the next emergency.