The Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has challenged Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to publish the original Ethiopian Airlines invoices for three chartered flights used to evacuate Ghanaians from South Africa.
He says the documents are needed to establish the actual cost of the flights following claims that the government paid $750,000 for each aircraft.
Speaking at a press briefing on Sunday, October 18, Miracles Aboagye said documents released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including its response to a Right to Information (RTI) request dated September 18, 2026, and a report to Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, raised questions about the expenditure.
He said the documents showed that GH¢27,183,700 was spent on chartered flights, representing 55 per cent of the total evacuation cost, but did not include invoices, contracts or the names of the operators.
Mr Aboagye further claimed that information available to the NPP indicated that the first three chartered flights were operated by Ethiopian Airlines and arranged through a person identified as Mr Vanderpuye.
He alleged that each flight may have been billed at nearly $300,000 above its actual cost, insisting that the original invoices would help clarify the discrepancy.
According to him, the Minister’s documents put the cost of each flight at “$750,000, while the party’s industry checks suggested that chartering a flight through Ethiopian Airlines or Air Tanzania should cost between $180,000 and $300,000.”
The three flights, he said reportedly transported about 900 passengers from South Africa to Ghana.
“We put this to the Minister directly, and we invite him to prove it wrong with paper, not words. Publish the original Ethiopian Airlines invoices for all three flights, so we can have some proper conversation with the airline as to how and why it ripped off the country at such a crucial time,” he said.
Mr Aboagye also questioned the Ministry’s relationship with Mr Vanderpuye, who he alleged arranged the flights.
He asked whether the Ministry’s Chief Director had requested fresh invoices from Mr Vanderpuye in September and, if so, why invoices for flights completed months earlier needed to be reissued.
He further demanded the release of detailed records from Ghana’s High Commission in Pretoria covering the flights, payments and assistance provided to the evacuees.
Mr Aboagye also called on Mr Ablakwa to “clarify allegations that his bodyguard had received $10,000 from the evacuation arrangements.”
He asked the Minister to confirm whether the officer had been dismissed and explain the purpose of the alleged payment and the circumstances surrounding the reported dismissal.
“If the figures are honest, the original invoices will settle this in a day. If they are not produced, Ghanaians will draw their own conclusions,” he said.
The allegations of overbilling and the alleged payment to the bodyguard were not independently established in the statement. The Foreign Affairs Minister’s response to the specific claims was not included in the material provided.
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