South Africa Evacuation Was Least Costly, Most Transparent – Foreign Affairs Ministry
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says its recent evacuation of 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa is the least costly and most transparent evacuation exercise undertaken by the state in recent years.
Defending the GH¢49,721,786.00 spent on the operation, the Ministry says the amount is almost equivalent to what was spent on a single budget line – quarantine – during the 2020 COVID-19 evacuation, which alone cost taxpayers GH¢44,460,530.00, even though most returnees at the time were asked to pay for their own quarantine.
The Ministry also says it has submitted a comprehensive report on the South Africa evacuation to the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament and has responded to a Right to Information (RTI) request from the Minority in Parliament with over 200 pages of documentation.
According to the Ministry, the report includes a detailed expenditure breakdown, receipts, and the names and phone contacts of all 1,964 evacuees.
The Ministry insists the South Africa exercise has been “the most transparent exercise anchored on integrity and financial prudence.”
In a statement outlining additional accountability measures, the Ministry announced that beyond the full public disclosure of the cost by the Minister, it has written to the Auditor-General to conduct a special audit into the South Africa evacuation and all evacuations carried out by the Ministry since 2017.
The audits will cover the 2020 COVID-19 evacuation, the 2022 evacuation from Ukraine, and the 2023 evacuation from Sudan.
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