Outspoken South African Evacuee Confirms He Was Not Given the GH¢500 Transportation Fee

Kwame Antwi, one of the Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa, confirmed he did not receive the GH₵500 transportation allowanceThe disclosure came amid a wider JoyNews investigation that found some of the 1,964 evacuees never received their full government allocationsJoyNews Research also flagged duplicate names, unsigned payment records and missing receipts in the GH₵49.72 million evacuation spendGhana’s top stories, now easier to find. Discover our new search feature!

Kwame Antwi, a Ghanaian evacuated from South Africa who has been vocal about his experience, has confirmed that he did not receive the GH₵500 transportation fee that the government allocated to returning evacuees.

He made the disclosure in a conversation with socialite Amaro Shakur posted on TikTok on October 26, 2026, amid growing scrutiny over how funds tied to the evacuation exercise were disbursed.

Kwame Antwi says he missed the GH₵500 transport allowance after the South Africa evacuation. Image credit: Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Amaro Shakur/Facebook Source: Getty ImagesWhat Kwame Antwi did and did not receiveAntwi clarified that while he was denied the transport allowance, he did receive the GH₵5,000 reintegration sum that the government had promised evacuees. He also noted that officials who received him and fellow evacuees at the airport arranged a bus for those travelling to Kumasi.

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His account adds a personal dimension to findings published by JoyNews Research, which examined data from the government's evacuation of 1,964 Ghanaians from South Africa.

Isaac Kofi Adjei, Head of Research at JoyNews, presented the team's findings on JoyNews Newsfile, revealing that a number of evacuees did not receive either the GH₵5,000 reintegration allowance or the GH₵500 transport allowance, despite the government spending GH₵49.72 million on the entire operation.

Beyond missing payments, the research team's independent analysis uncovered further irregularities in the records, including duplicate names appearing in the data, payment entries that lacked supporting signatures, and expenditure for which no receipts were available.

The findings have intensified public debate over the management of the evacuation funds, with questions now being raised about accountability and oversight of the exercise.

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Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that the Minority in Parliament had called on Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to step down.

This follows allegations that some Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa did not receive the full GH¢5,500 support package promised by the government.

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Philip Boateng Kessie (Head of Human Interest Desk) Philip Boateng Kessie is the Head of the Diaspora Affairs Desk at YEN.com.gh, where he has worked since 2022. He has over eight years of journalism experience and holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from the University of Cape Coast. Philip previously served as Head of the Human Interest Desk at YEN.com.gh and has also worked as a reporter for Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) and a content writer for Scooper News. He also holds certificates in Advanced Digital Reporting and Fighting Misinformation. Email: philip.kessie@yen.com.gh