Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has dismissed reports claiming that a Ghanaian national was the only person evacuated from South Africa, describing the narrative as misinformation and clarifying that no evacuation flight has yet been dispatched by the Government of Ghana.
The Minister’s clarification comes amid growing public attention on Ghana’s planned evacuation arrangements for nationals in South Africa following recent xenophobic attacks and safety concerns affecting foreign residents.
In a Facebook post on Friday, May 22, Mr. Ablakwa explained that Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Benjamin Quarshie, successfully located a young Ghanaian, Sylvester Boakye, who had missed an earlier updated evacuation notice and had arrived alone at the O.R. Tambo Airport.
According to him, the High Commissioner immediately engaged Mr. Boakye and has since met him at the Ghana mission in Pretoria to ensure he is properly integrated into the ongoing evacuation process.
“The young Ghanaian by name Sylvester Boakye can be assured that he would not be left out of the planned evacuations expected to cover some 800 people. No Ghanaian desirous of returning home would be left behind,” he said.
Mr. Ablakwa stressed that contrary to circulating claims, no Ghanaian has been airlifted to Accra under the current exercise, as the government has not yet deployed any chartered evacuation flight.
He explained that the evacuation process was temporarily deferred following an agreement with South African authorities to address legal, technical, and logistical requirements before any flight operations commence.
“Clearly, Mr. Sylvester Boakye was not airlifted to Ghana as there was no chartered flight sent by the Government of Ghana due to an agreement with South African authorities to defer the evacuation pending the addressing of legal, technical and logistical matters,” he stated.
The Minister further rejected suggestions that Mr. Boakye was the only person evacuated, insisting the claims do not reflect the reality of the ongoing arrangements.
He praised the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria for actively tracking affected nationals and coordinating efforts to ensure that no Ghanaian willing to return home is excluded from the evacuation process.
Mr. Ablakwa reaffirmed government’s commitment to the safe and orderly repatriation of all registered Ghanaians affected by the situation in South Africa, amid rising public concern and calls for transparency over the exercise.
