The Minority in Parliament has dismissed claims that it paid some Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa to speak against government.
Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, said at a press briefing on Tuesday, October 27, that at no point did the Minority pay or coach any evacuee to make allegations against government.
He was responding to claims made by some of the evacuees at a press conference on Monday, October 26, where they alleged that some opposition members tried to influence them to speak against government over their repatriation and allowances.
"Let me place on record that at no point in time did the Minority engage, pay, and/or convince any of these people," Mr. Jinapor stated.
According to him, the evacuees decided to speak out on their own after they discovered inconsistencies between what they were supposed to receive and what they actually received.
The Minority has been raising issues with spending on the South Africa evacuation, pointing to alleged duplicate names, payment sheets without signatures, missing receipts, and claims by some evacuees that they did not receive the full amounts recorded in their names.
Mr. Jinapor said the concerns have not been addressed even after explanations from Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, and reiterated the Minority's demand for an independent audit of the evacuation exercise.