Michael Addo, the leader of the Aggrieved South Africa Evacuees, has said Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa following xenophobic attacks have rejected claims by the Minority that some returnees were denied portions of the GH¢5,500 support package.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Michael Addo rejected claims that some returnees received only GH¢500 in transportation assistance, while others received only the GH¢5,000 reintegration allowance.
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.
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.
Meanwhile, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Foreign Affairs Minister, has reacted to claims some Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa received less than the GH¢5,500 support package announced by the government.
According to Ablakwa, for more than four months since the exercise began, the Foreign Affairs Ministry did not receive any complaints from evacuated Ghanaians about not receiving the full amount, comprising GH¢5,000 in reintegration support and GH¢500 for transportation.
He argued that all 1,964 evacuees, including minors, received the GH¢5,000 reintegration package and GH¢500 transportation allowance, quizzing why allegations of underpayment were emerging through the media months after the beneficiaries received their money at the airport.
Ablakwa disclosed that evacuees had been informed before leaving South Africa that each person would receive GH¢5,500, noting that the same information was repeated upon their arrival in Ghana.
He explained that beneficiaries received two envelopes at the airport and were encouraged to open them and verify the amounts, revealing that Journalists and bloggers were present, with some recording evacuees counting their money.
Speaking to the Ghanaian community in Ottawa, Canada, during an official working visit, Ablakwa questioned the claims saying, “These stories do not add up. And they are calculated at probably discouraging us from always stepping in and rescuing Ghanaians from harm’s way”
“For more than four months since the evacuation commenced, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not received a single complaint. We didn’t receive a complaint at the airport that an envelope has not been received or that an amount is not up to the figure. Up until this day, there has been no complaint by any of the Ghanaians evacuated,” he said.
He further disclosed that despite the criticism directed at him, he will continue supporting Ghanaians in distress abroad.
“But I give you one assurance that despite all the vilification, I remain fully committed to the welfare, the protection of the dignity
and the rights of Ghanaians. I am not discouraged at all,” he added.
The development follows a JoyNews report that claimed that at least three people contacted from the evacuation list claimed they received GH¢2,000 instead of the announced total allowance of GH¢5,500.
@ghnow_ Veteran actor Koo Ofori visibly shaken as he mourns the passing of his longtime friend and co-star, Kwame Dzokoto, who passed away yesterday. #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ Sister Afia arrive in Kumasi for Rapperholic Homecoming #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – Wasako Lyrics
