Sammy Gyamfi answers Public Accounts Committee over 2025 Gold Board audit

Collins Adomako-Mensah demands audit of GH₵49.72m evacuation costs

Member of Parliament for Afigya Kwabre North, Collins Adomako-Mensah, is calling for an independent audit into the GH₵49.72 million spent by the government on the evacuation of 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa. The evacuation exercise, which took place between May 27 and September 4, 2026, was conducted in response to ongoing xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals. The MP's demand follows his review of documents provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he claims show that the financial records and passenger numbers do not align. Adomako-Mensah identified several potential inconsistencies during his scrutiny of the ministry's expenditure, specifically highlighting suspected duplicate entries in the passenger manifest. He emphasized that the substantial amount of public funds involved—nearly GH₵50 million—requires a thorough and transparent verification process. According to the MP, the existing discrepancies in the documents make it difficult to account for the actual number of individuals who benefited from the state-funded repatriation efforts. Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has rejected the allegations of record inconsistencies and financial mismanagement. The Minister maintained that the ministry’s documentation is accurate and reflects the urgent nature of the operation to bring Ghanaian citizens home safely. Despite this rebuttal, Adomako-Mensah continues to advocate for an external audit to ensure full accountability for the public funds utilized during the four-month operation. In a related development, the National Data Protection Commission (DPC) has intervened in the growing calls for transparency by rejecting requests to publicly disclose the personal identities and financial records of the 1,964 evacuees. In a press statement issued on October 20, 2026, the Commission stated that it would not tolerate the public release of names, signatures, and personal data, citing strict privacy protections. This stance by the DPC introduces a legal hurdle for those calling for a public audit based on the verification of individual passenger records.