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The Minority in Parliament has denied allegations that it paid or attempted to coach some Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa to make statements against the government over the handling of their repatriation and financial assistance.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, insisted that the Minority had neither paid nor persuaded any of the returnees to speak against the government.
His response follows a press conference held by some of the evacuees on Monday, October 26, during which they alleged that members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) had contacted and coached some of them to criticise the government’s handling of the evacuation exercise.
Mr Jinapor dismissed the allegations, stressing that the Minority had not influenced any of the evacuees to make public statements on the matter.
“Let me place on record that at no point in time did the Minority engage, pay, and/or convince any of these people,” he stated.
He explained that some returnees had independently decided to raise concerns after discovering alleged discrepancies between the financial assistance they expected to receive and the amounts they claimed to have received.
The Minority has questioned the expenditure associated with the evacuation exercise, pointing to alleged duplicate entries, payment records without signatures, missing supporting receipts and claims by some returnees that they did not receive the amounts recorded against their names.
According to Mr Jinapor, these concerns remain unresolved despite explanations provided by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
He therefore reiterated the Minority’s call for an independent audit of the evacuation exercise to establish the accuracy of the financial records and address questions surrounding the payments made to the returnees.
The disagreement comes amid growing public debate over the government’s management of the evacuation and the GH¢5,500 support package reportedly provided to each returnee, comprising GH¢5,000 for reintegration and GH¢500 for transportation.