Accra handled evacuation flight payments, not Pretoria mission — High Commissioner
Benjamin Anani Quashie says the Pretoria mission was notified of flight schedules and available seats but did not manage charter payments. The Minority is seeking an independent audit of the reported GH¢49.72 million evacuation expenditure
Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Accra handled payments for chartered evacuation flights, as questions continue over the reported GH¢49.72 million spent bringing 1,964 Ghanaians home.
Benjamin Anani Quashie told GTV’s Breakfast Show on Tuesday, October 20, that the diplomatic mission in Pretoria neither arranged nor paid for the charters and did not hold figures showing how much the airlines received.
His comments come as the Minority in Parliament questions gaps in the documents supporting the expenditure and calls for an independent audit. “At the High Commission here in Pretoria, we didn’t deal with a charter,” Mr Quashie said.
He explained that the mission was informed when flights were scheduled and how many seats were available for Ghanaians seeking to return home. The charter arrangements and payments, he said, were managed by the ministry in Accra.
The Foreign Ministry has previously put the total cost of the operation at GH¢49.72 million, comprising GH¢33.72 million in direct government funding and GH¢16 million in support from Engineers & Planners.
According to the ministry, that expenditure covered chartered flights, commercial airline tickets, accommodation, food, medical care, transport and other logistical arrangements.
The reported GH¢49.72 million therefore represents the ministry’s stated cost of the wider evacuation operation, rather than a figure solely for chartered flights.
Mr Quashie said the High Commission had also responded to questions about its own expenditure on accommodation, food and other assistance provided to evacuees.
However, he did not provide an airline payment total, saying the mission did not have those figures.
The Minority’s demand for an independent audit centres on what it describes as gaps in the supporting documentation.
The ministry’s breakdown sets out the stated funding sources and broad spending categories. Detailed contracts, payment records and supporting documents would be needed to examine how the total was calculated and how much was spent on each component.