JoyNews Research has found that some of the 1,964 Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa did not receive their GH¢5,000 reintegration allowance and GH¢500 transport allowance, despite the government spending GH¢49.72 million on the exercise.
Head of Research at JoyNews, Isaac Kofi Adjei, disclosed this on JoyNews Newsfile on Saturday, October 24, while outlining findings from the team’s independent analysis of data relating to the evacuation.
He said the team’s checks also uncovered duplicate names in the records, payments without signatures and expenditure for which supporting receipts were unavailable.
“So after our independent analysis, we built a system to actually test this data. We manually also checked all the numbers that we had received and we came out with at least five conclusions that the data that we had did not support so many claims that were made by the Foreign Affairs Minister,” he said.
Mr Adjei explained that the team tested the list of 1,964 evacuees subsequently shared by the Foreign Affairs Minister and found discrepancies in the records it had analysed.
“When we did our checks, we realised there were duplicates in terms of names in the document that we had received and we had analysed. We also saw that some of the evacuees received monies, but there were no signatures.
“And there were those who did not receive the 5,000 resettlement allowance or reintegration allowance and the 500 cedis transport allowance,” he said.
The findings also included records containing dates of birth that appeared to be in the future or were otherwise impossible.
Mr Adjei said the Foreign Affairs Ministry or Ghana’s mission in Pretoria subsequently provided clarification on that issue.
Another concern was the absence of receipts for some expenditure items included in the government’s response to Parliament and in data obtained by JoyNews Research.
Mr Adjei cited accommodation and transportation expenses incurred in South Africa as examples of expenditure for which the team had not received receipts.
“We also have transport expenses in South Africa; we didn’t have receipts for that and other expenses,” he said.
He stressed that the findings emerged from the team’s initial checks of the data obtained from its sources, adding that JoyNews Research had also examined data collected directly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the evacuation.
“And I think subsequently we were finished with the primary data if I should say that or the original data that the ministry itself collected on the day. We have done that check as well. And Monday we are airing the findings here on Joy News,” he said.