Ablakwa Triggers Audit Into COVID-19 Evacuation

The Ministery for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has requested a special audit into the 2020 COVID-19 evacuation.

It comes after he revealed that Ghanaians evacuated at the time were made to pay for their own quarantine, despite the state spending GH¢44,460,530.00 on quarantine alone.

The Minister, according to a statement released by the Ministry, has written to the Auditor-General to audit all evacuations undertaken by the Ministry since 2017, including the 2020 COVID-19 evacuation, the 2022 evacuation from Ukraine, and the 2023 evacuation from Sudan.

The move follows public scrutiny of the GH¢49,721,786.00 spent on the recent evacuation of 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa.

The Ministry says records show the South Africa operation ranks among the least costly evacuations. It argued that the entire South Africa evacuation cost is almost the same as what was spent on a single expenditure item — quarantine — during the 2020 exercise.

“For example, the GH¢49,721,786.00 being the total cost of evacuation from South Africa is around the same figure spent on only one expenditure item during the 2020 evacuation, that is quarantine, which cost the Ghanaian taxpayer GH¢44,460,530.00 even though most Ghanaians were asked to pay for quarantine from their own resources,” the statement noted.

The Ministry said it has already submitted a comprehensive report on the South Africa evacuation to the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament and has provided over 200 pages of accountability documents, including expenditure breakdowns, receipts, and names and phone contacts of all 1,964 evacuees, in response to an RTI request from the Minority.

The Ministry maintains that the South Africa evacuation has been the most transparent exercise, anchored on integrity and financial prudence.

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