Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked for a special audit of emergency evacuations carried out since 2017, according to Modern Ghana. The request follows scrutiny of government spending on bringing citizens home from South Africa.
Modern Ghana reports that the ministry has handed the Minority a 200-page account covering GH¢49.7 million spent on the South Africa evacuation. The handover came after opposition lawmakers demanded a full breakdown of the expenditure, according to GhanaWeb and Asaase Radio.
Asaase Radio reports that the Minority boycotted a Foreign Affairs meeting while insisting on a complete account of the spending. CediRates reports that chartered flights alone accounted for GH¢27.18 million, citing the government's own breakdown of the costs.
The scrutiny follows a series of evacuation operations. Modern Ghana reported earlier that Ghana evacuated 41 more citizens from South Africa amid xenophobic attacks there.
The figures now under review cover evacuations stretching back to 2017, meaning the audit would examine spending across multiple operations rather than a single incident. The Minority's demand for detailed records, and the ministry's decision to seek an independent audit, indicate that the dispute over the South Africa costs has widened into a broader examination of how emergency evacuations are funded and accounted for.
What to watch next: whether the special audit is formally commissioned, and whether the Minority ends its boycott once the full account is tabled.