Kofi Tonto, spokesperson for Employment on the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Policy Committee, has called on Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to address alleged discrepancies in records covering the evacuation of Ghanaians from South Africa.
Mr Tonto has raised concerns over entries containing questionable dates of birth, duplicate passport numbers and alleged multiple payments to beneficiaries, insisting that the Minister must provide clear explanations to the concerns raised by the Minority in Parliament.
In a Facebook post, Mr Tonto questioned the adequacy of Mr Ablakwa’s public response to the controversy, arguing that the issues identified in the documentation provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs remained unresolved.
He cited examples of individuals whose dates of birth were reportedly recorded as falling in 2034 and 2036, as well as another entry indicating February 31, 1990, a date that does not exist.
He argued that the discrepancies warranted clarification from the Ministry to establish whether they resulted from administrative errors or other problems with the records.
Mr Tonto also alleged that the documents contained instances in which different individuals were listed under identical passport numbers and that some beneficiaries appeared to have received duplicate payments.
He maintained that the concerns went beyond simple data-entry errors, given their potential implications for the accuracy of the evacuation records and the accounting of allowances paid to returnees.
“The demand is simple; respond to the gaps in your own data. We are interested in answers not more questions,” he wrote. He further criticised the Minister’s handling of the controversy, stating: “Ablakwa should not think for a second that his bogus media gymnastics has exonerated him.”
The dispute follows concerns raised by the NPP Minority in Parliament over passenger manifests and payment documentation for the evacuation exercise.
Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh, Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, previously said the Minority’s examination of documents provided by the Ministry revealed a difference between the official number of evacuees and the passengers identifiable in the flight records reviewed.
According to the Minority, its assessment identified 1,173 passengers in the available documentation, compared with the Ministry’s reported total of 1,964 evacuees.
The Minority has consequently called for clarification on the missing entries, the payment registers and the expenditure associated with the exercise.