Former Member of Parliament Kwasi Kwarteng has urged Ghanaians not to read the growing demand for answers about the South Africa evacuation as an attack on the people who were brought home. In a Facebook post, he argued that asking how the exercise was run is a way of protecting the evacuees, not turning on them.
A Message Aimed at the Returnees
Kwarteng’s post speaks directly to Ghanaians who lived through xenophobic attacks in South Africa. He suggested that people who endured years of hostility abroad should not feel threatened by questions about how public officials handled their situation. He drew a clear line between the evacuees themselves and the officials whose conduct he believes should be examined.
He wrote:
“If you have survived years of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, I have no doubt you can withstand our harmless quest for transparency and accountability from public officials who may have exploited your circumstances and vulnerability.”
He closed with a line that sums up his position:
“We are not fighting you. We are fighting for you.”
The post lands in the middle of an argument that has been building for weeks. The government says it evacuated 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa and spent GH¢49.72 million on the exercise. Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says every evacuee received a GH¢5,000 reintegration package and a GH¢500 transport allowance, and that his ministry has received no formal complaint about the payments in more than four months. He has also said he welcomes scrutiny, and that he has invited the Auditor-General to audit all evacuations since 2017.
Military Takeover Could Happen If Politicians Fail Ghanaians—Odike
The opposition Minority in Parliament has demanded documents to back up the spending. Among other things, it says its review of flight records found 1,173 passengers against the official figure of 1,964. It has also pressed the minister to explain inconsistencies in the records. The minister rejects the suggestion that anyone was shortchanged. These claims and counterclaims have not been settled.
The Returnees Feel Caught in the Middle
Some evacuees have said the public argument is hurting them. A group of returnees has said that allegations of corruption surrounding the exercise are taking a toll on their mental health, and it has asked for an end to reports it considers misleading. The group also said it supports accountability and transparency. Kwarteng’s message appears to speak to exactly this tension: how to keep asking hard questions without leaving the evacuees feeling like targets.
Accountability and Compassion Can Coexist
Evacuations involve complicated logistics, communication with those affected, transport and the spending of public money. That is why openness matters. People can only judge whether the process was handled properly if the records are available.
Kwarteng’s post does not, on its own, show that any official exploited the evacuees, and he offered no evidence in the message itself. Any allegation of wrongdoing would need proof, and the people concerned would have to be given a fair chance to respond. Still, his central point stands as an argument: helping vulnerable citizens with compassion does not remove the duty of officials to account for what they did, and demands for accountability should rest on facts without stigmatising the people whose welfare is at stake.
The questions that matter now are practical ones. Was the evacuation handled transparently? Did returnees get the support they were promised? And can any concerns about officials’ conduct be answered through credible evidence and proper accountability channels, such as the planned audit? How those answers emerge will decide whether this remains a political contest or becomes a clear public account that the evacuees themselves can trust.