Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says the payment of reintegration allowances to Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa is the first such intervention in the country’s history.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, October 17, 2026, he said President John Dramani Mahama backed the support to help the returnees rebuild their lives.
According to Mr Ablakwa, the President recognised that the evacuees had left behind livelihoods and investments built over years in South Africa and needed financial assistance to resettle in Ghana.
“Very traumatic experience, the President and his government said, let us not bring them home and leave them to their fate, and it is the first time evacuation is done, and we have paid them reintegration allowance; normally it is just a little transportation package,” he noted.
The Minister said the allowance was intended to ease their transition and help them re-establish themselves after returning home, leaving behind what they have achieved in their lifetime in the departed country.
“When you are talking about reintegration allowance, let us not forget the circumstances. These are our compatriots who have been sadly forced to flee for their lives and safety; they left everything behind- their jobs, their assets, their savings- and they could not access their bank account,” the minister argued.
The evacuation brought 1,964 Ghanaians home between May 27 and September 4, 2026, following renewed xenophobic attacks and intimidation against foreign nationals in South Africa. The ministry put the total cost at GH¢49,721,786.
On September 18, the ministry submitted a report exceeding 200 pages to the Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh, in response to a Right to Information request. The documents included evacuees’ contact details and signatures