The Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has questioned discrepancies in records covering payments to Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa, arguing that the figures do not support claims that all beneficiaries received the full GH¢5,500 allowance.
Speaking at a press briefing on Sunday, October 18, he said a line-by-line analysis of documents provided by Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa showed inconsistencies between the lists of beneficiaries who signed for the payments.
Mr Aboagye said although the minister maintained that all 1,964 evacuees received GH¢5,500 each, the records showed that only 1,001 people signed for the GH¢500 transport allowance.
“The signatures do not match the headcounts. The minister says all 1,964 evacuees , received GH¢5,500. His own signed sheet, which is submitted, carried only about 1,001 signatures for the GH¢500 transport allowance, and 1,508 recorded as receiving only for just the GH¢500.
“Match, name by name, only 824 people appear on both lists. It means, ladies and gentlemen, when our compatriots arrive in Ghana they go to desk one, sign, pick up GH¢5,00 in an envelope, go to desk two, sign, pick up GH¢500 in an envelope, has a total of GH¢5,500. Now, this is what is sad. The document that the foreign affairs minister himself gave to us when you analyse the data line by line, we realised that the people who signed for and collected the GH¢500 are 1,001 people. It means that about 963 of the 1,964 did not receive GH¢500,” he said.
According to him, the figures raise questions about whether all the evacuees received the full amount as stated by the minister.
His comments follow a challenge by Mr Ablakwa to the Minority in Parliament to identify a Ghanaian evacuated from South Africa who did not receive the GH¢5,500 allowance.
The minister dismissed allegations of unaccounted funds, describing them as an attempt to create a scandal.
The dispute centres on whether the payment records adequately account for the allowances distributed to all 1,964 evacuees.