South Africa Evacuation Most Transparent, Among Least Costly – Foreign Affairs Ministry

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says its recent evacuation of 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa is the most transparent evacuation exercise, anchored on integrity and financial prudence, and among the least costly in recent years.

In a statement outlining additional accountability measures following the successful operation, the Ministry said it has taken five key steps to ensure full transparency.

According to the Ministry, in addition to the Minister’s full public disclosure of the cost of the evacuation, the Minister has written to the Auditor-General to conduct a special audit into the evacuation from South Africa and all evacuations by the Foreign Ministry since 2017, including the 2020 COVID-19 evacuation, the 2022 evacuation from Ukraine and the 2023 evacuation from Sudan.

Secondly, the Ministry said it has submitted a comprehensive report on the evacuation from South Africa to the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament.

Thirdly, it has responded to the RTI request of the Minority in Parliament by submitting over 200 pages of an accountability report which covers all aspects of the evacuations, including a further expenditure breakdown, receipts, names and phone contacts of all 1,964 Ghanaians evacuated.

The Ministry also disclosed that records at the Foreign Ministry reveal that this year’s evacuation from South Africa ranks among the least costly.

For example, the total cost of evacuation from South Africa, GH¢49,721,786.00, 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 emphasised that the evacuation from South Africa has been the most transparent exercise undertaken by the Ministry.

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