The NPP Minority in Parliament has denied claims that it paid or attempted to coach some Ghanaian evacuees from South Africa to speak against the government.
The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, addressing the press on Tuesday, October 27, argued that the Minority had not paid or persuaded any of the evacuees to make allegations against the Mahama government.
Samuel Jinapor rejected the allegation, insisting that the Minority had not influenced any of the evacuees.
Speaking during a press conference, Samuel Jinapor stated, “Let me place on record that at no point in time did the Minority engage, pay, and/or convince any of these people”.
Samuel Jinapor explained that some of the evacuees spoke out after learning of discrepancies between the allowances they were entitled to receive and the amounts they actually received.
The Minority further raised concerns about expenditure on the evacuation exercise, citing alleged duplicate entries, payment records without signatures, missing supporting receipts and also claims by some evacuees that they did not receive the amounts recorded against their names.
The minority response follows a press conference held by some of the evacuees on Monday, October 26, during which they alleged that some members of the opposition had attempted to coach them to speak against the Mahama government.
Michael Addo, the leader of the Aggrieved South Africa evacuees has said Ghanaians evacuated from the country will not allow petty politics to turn them into liars.
He alleged that some members of the group were contacted and coached by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to make statements criticising the government’s support package for returnees.
According to Michael Addo, the South Africa evacuees were committed to speaking the truth regardless of their political affiliations.
He insisted that partisan interests would not influence their accounts of the assistance they received.
Michael Addo, speaking on behalf of the group, also rejected claims that some returnees received only GH¢500 in transportation assistance, while others received only the GH¢5,000 reintegration allowance.
He maintained that all the evacuees received the full GH¢5,500 package, comprising GH¢5,000 in reintegration assistance and GH¢500 for transportation, on their arrival in Ghana.
Speaking to the media on Monday, October 26, Michael Addo stated, “We are aware that some members of our group have received calls and coaching to speak against the government, but our conscience will not allow us to do so, even if we support the opposition party rather than the government of the day”.
“It is only fair that we state the facts and refuse to allow petty politics to make us liars. 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 package on our respective dates of arrival,” Mr Addo said.
He further condemned what he describes as the public humiliation of Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa.
He added, “While we bravely recover from our trauma and pain, the very society we expect to protect us has reduced our pain to humiliation under the guise of seeking accountability”.
“We have other brothers and sisters who are still over there who are willing to come. Currently, we still have 46 people who were supposed to be on the flight, but because of what is currently spreading on social media, we don’t even have the balls to beg the government to go and rescue them,” he stated.
“We are here to seek answers and demand an immediate end to the baseless attacks on us and the government that was sympathetic towards us,” he declared.
“We have experienced xenophobia for many years, but this is the first time a government has taken our plight into account and come to our rescue,” he added.
@ghnow_ The Minority is demanding Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa’s resignation, arguing that his continued stay in office could allow him to conceal evidence in the South Africa evacuation allegations. #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ The Minority in Parliament has called for Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa’s resignation over corruption allegations linked to the South Africa evacuation exercise. #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
