Cut-throat evacuation, quarantining cost for stranded Ghanaians worrying – Ablakwa

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has questioned how the government of Ghana used the $12.7 million that was approved by Parliament exclusively for quarantining COVID-19 patients, as part of the World Bank’s $100 million facility, since stranded Ghanaians abroad who will be beneficiaries of government’s evacuation are being asked to pay for their hotel bills on arrival in the country.

Mr Ablakwa bemoaned what he described as the “cut-throat and prohibitive” hotel cost for quarantining Ghanaians who will be evacuated from their various countries of residence back home.

Ghanaians living in Nigeria who have expressed interest in returning home will have to pay $800 in order to be evacuated back home on a chartered flight.

According to a statement issued by Ghana’s High Commission in Nigeria on Friday, 29 May 2020

“The cost per passenger ranges from $800 to $1,000 for a flight from Abuja to Accra and $700 to $900 from Lagos to Accra all depending on the maximum number of (34) of passengers available,”

Also, the notice gave interested Ghanaians resident in Nigeria a Sunday, 31 May 2020 deadline to register in order to benefit from the government’s evacuation efforts.

The evacuation, which was scheduled for Tuesday, 2 June, however, did not come off.

In a Facebook post on Friday, 5 May 2020, the North Tongu MP said he hoped the government will keep to the schedule that was presented to the house of legislature by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to ensure the evacuation of all stranded Ghanaian nationals abroad.

He wrote: “I hope Government will diligently follow its timetable as presented to Parliament today. We must avoid what happened to our compatriots in Nigeria this week when their advertised 2nd June evacuation failed to materialise. They remain in Nigeria three days after with no clarity on the way forward”.

Mr Ablakwa noted that as canvassed in parliament, “it is imperative that government extend interim consular assistance to those sleeping rough and in dire straits as we see playing out in Dubai and elsewhere. Such scenes do Ghana’s image no good.”

“I am also deeply concerned about the cut-throat and prohibitive hotel cost of quarantine which our compatriots are being asked to bear”, he said, and wondered: “What happened to the US$12.7 million Parliament approved exclusively for quarantine as part of the World Bank US$100 million facility?”