Ghana’s NPP calls for independent audit of evacuations
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on MyJoyOnline
Ghana’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) disputes figures for evacuating nationals from South Africa and calls for an independent audit of the cost and number of people transported. Its National Youth Organiser, Abanga Fuseini Yakubu, wants the findings made public, according to MyJoyOnline.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ghana’s main opposition party, is calling for an independent audit of operations to evacuate Ghanaian nationals from South Africa. Its National Youth Organiser, Abanga Fuseini Yakubu, rejected Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa’s proposal to assign a special audit to the Auditor-General during JoyFM’s Top Story programme on Tuesday 3 November.
The NPP wants an independent firm to examine the entire operation and publish its findings. Abanga Fuseini Yakubu believes that the minister, who is at the centre of the controversy, cannot initiate a procedure intended to scrutinise his own management.
The party is also disputing figures released by the Foreign Affairs Ministry following a freedom of information request. The document states that 1,964 people were evacuated on three chartered flights, each with a capacity of about 300 passengers. The NPP is requesting information on any commercial flights, including tickets, passenger manifests, seat numbers and proof of payment. It is also calling for the publication of the receipt for the $750,000 announced for a chartered flight, MyJoyOnline reports.
The request comes after Ghana published, on 17 October, its justification for spending 49.72 million cedis to evacuate the 1,964 nationals from South Africa. The NPP now wants the expenditure and the number of people transported as part of the evacuation of 1,964 nationals to be verified.
