Ghanaian tycoon Ibrahim Mahama's $1.4 million evacuation gift comes under opposition scrutiny

A GH¢16 million ($1.37 million) donation from Ghanaian tycoon Ibrahim Mahama's Engineers and Planners toward bringing home Ghanaians who fled xenophobic attacks in South Africa has been pulled into an opposition campaign over how the government spent money on the operation.

The youth wing of the opposition New Patriotic Party marched in Accra on Nov. 3 and gave President John Mahama, the businessman's older brother, 14 days to act on its demands over the evacuation and the issue of diplomatic passports. "We are giving President Mahama 14 days to act; else we will stage another demonstration," said Fuseini Abanga, the party's national youth organizer.

The protesters want original invoices, contracts and proof of payment for the charter flights used in the evacuation, the full passenger list, an independent audit and the dismissal of Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. They say GH¢16.4 million ($1.41 million) of the spending has not been properly explained.

How the money was spent

Ghana evacuated 1,964 citizens from South Africa this year. President Mahama approved the operation on May 12, and the first group of about 300 returnees landed in Accra on May 27. Ibrahim Mahama agreed in July to pay the air fares for a second phase, when about 1,000 more people registered to come home. Each returnee received GH¢5,000 ($429) to resettle and GH¢500 ($43) for transport.

The total cost was GH¢49.72 million ($4.26 million), Ablakwa said in September. Of that, the government paid GH¢33.72 million ($2.89 million) and Engineers and Planners covered the remaining GH¢16 million. Ablakwa called the company's contribution an "extraordinary commitment" to the welfare of Ghanaians. The money paid for flights, ground transport, food, accommodation, medical care, resettlement allowances and the return of the bodies of two Ghanaians who died.

The New Patriotic Party says documents it obtained under a right-to-information request in September do not settle the numbers. It says GH¢27.18 million ($2.33 million) spent on chartered flights has no matching invoices or contracts, and it has asked whether the Engineers and Planners money arrived as cash, as a ministerial letter described it, or was spent directly on airline tickets and resettlement support, as the ministry's response suggested. The party also says it found a GH¢6.6 million ($566,000) gap between the contribution and the airline receipts it reviewed.

"Ghana did not ask the Minister for an explanation. Ghana asked for an account," Dennis Miracles Aboagye, the party's director of communications, said in October.

Government response

Ablakwa has rejected the party's figures. "What kind of voodoo analysis is this?" he said last month, adding that payment lists the opposition called duplicates were signed at different times. He said the government would await the findings of an audit and noted that Ghana spent GH¢96.97 million ($8.32 million) on evacuations during the Covid-19 pandemic, without resettlement allowances.

Deputy Government Spokesperson Shamima Muslim said the youth wing's petition had gone to the Office of the Chief of Staff and that the government would act on any demand it found to have merit. She said the government would not dismiss an official on the basis of the party's claims alone, and that Ablakwa had shown a commitment to accountability.

Ibrahim Mahama has also offered 100 jobs to returnees from South Africa. He built Engineers and Planners into one of Ghana's largest mining contractors, and the company runs operations at Gold Fields Ltd.'s Tarkwa mine. In April, the government handed the Damang gold mine to the company after declining to renew Gold Fields' lease. His Dzata Holdings also has interests in cement and other industries.

Figures were converted at GH¢11.66 to the dollar.