The organiser of the Aggrieved South Africa Evacuees, Michael Addo, has dismissed claims that some Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa received only portions of the GH¢5,500 financial assistance provided by the government.
He has also alleged that some members of the group have been contacted and coached to make false statements against the government as controversy intensifies over the cost of the evacuation exercise.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Monday, October 26, 2026, Mr Addo insisted that all the more than 1,900 evacuees, including women and children, received the full financial package upon their arrival in Ghana.
The package comprised GH¢5,000 in reintegration support and GH¢500 for transportation.
“The claims that some people received only the GH¢500 transportation allowance, while others received only the GH¢5,000 reintegration allowance, are all false. We want to state for the record that we all received the full package on our respective dates of arrival,” he declared.
His response follows allegations by the Minority in Parliament questioning the government’s expenditure of approximately GH¢49.72 million on the evacuation of 1,964 Ghanaians following xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
The Minority has raised concerns about discrepancies in beneficiary payment registers and other financial records, demanding further scrutiny of the expenditure.
However, Mr Addo maintained that the financial assistance was distributed to the returnees, challenging reports suggesting that some beneficiaries were denied their entitlements.
He further alleged that attempts were being made to influence some evacuees to contradict the government’s account of the exercise.
“We are aware that some members of our group have received calls and coaching to speak against the government. But our consciences will not allow us to do so,” he stated.
He insisted that political affiliations should not influence the accounts of beneficiaries, stressing that even evacuees who support opposition political parties have a responsibility to speak truthfully about the assistance they received.
Mr Addo urged the media to verify claims concerning the financial packages, noting that journalists who witnessed the arrival of the evacuees at the airport could provide important context.
He also disclosed that the packages were distributed at the airport, where beneficiaries opened and counted the contents before departing.
According to him, allegations that some returnees received only GH¢2,000 surfaced several months after the evacuation, raising questions about the basis of those claims.
The organiser called for an end to what he described as politically motivated attempts to discredit the government’s intervention, insisting that the evacuees would not allow partisan considerations to distort their experiences.
