Minister Ablakwa Assures No Evacuated Ghanaian Is on South Africa's Criminal Wanted Database | Discuss Ghana

As the massive emergency evacuation of Ghanaian nationals from South Africa accelerates, the state has forcefully pushed back against attempts to criminalize the returnees.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has issued a crucial structural update regarding the background checks being executed alongside host authorities, firmly announcing: “So far, not a single Ghanaian has been found on South Africa’s wanted list database.” The definitive declaration serves as a massive legal and moral shield for the hundreds of evacuees, completely dismantling public narratives that have attempted to frame the safety flights as a deportation of criminal elements.

Dismantling the Criminalization Narrative

Minister Ablakwa’s vital update, delivered following high-level diplomatic briefings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Accra, addresses recent commentary by South African immigration and security officials. Following the successful landing of the first state-funded charter flight carrying nearly 300 citizens from Johannesburg, host officials had publicly emphasized that an overwhelming majority of the evacuees were in non-compliance with the country's Immigration Act due to expired visas.

While acknowledging that many citizens required emergency travel certificates from the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria due to documentation lapses, Ablakwa drew a strict, uncompromised line between administrative visa overstays and actual criminal activity:

The Security Audit: The Minister revealed that a synchronized, real-time background screening is being systematically conducted across the South African Police Service (SAPS) database for every registered evacuee.

Flawless Civil Records: The exhaustive audit has explicitly verified that none of the 800+ citizens currently registered for the voluntary evacuation are fleeing the law, highlighting that the community consists entirely of law-abiding artisans, traders, and families caught in an unprecedented civil crisis.

THE EVACUEE SECURITY & IMMIGRATION METRICS:
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐      ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│        ADMINISTRATIVE STATUS           │      │          CRIMINAL RECORD STATUS        │
├────────────────────────────────────────┤      ├────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Total Registered: 800+ Nationals     │  ──  │ • SAPS Wanted Database Matches: 0      │
│ • Passport Overstays: High Percentage  │  ──  │ • Core Demographics: Artisans, Traders, │
│ • State Action: Free Emergency Travel  │      │   and Vulnerable Families Faced with   │
│   Certificates Systematically Issued   │      │   Sudden Local Anti-Immigrant Unrest   │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘      └────────────────────────────────────────┘

An Uncompromising Stand for Pan-African Dignity

The Foreign Minister utilized the security update to reinforce the Mahama administration's fierce, rights-first approach to international diplomacy. Having recently issued a strict national travel advisory warning Ghanaians to avoid all non-essential travel to South Africa, Ablakwa has went a step further by formally petitioning the African Union (AU), aggressively arguing that the harassment of foreign nationals directly violates the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and undermines the economic integration goals of the AfCFTA:

"We must be exceptionally clear about this to protect the dignity of our people. There is a vast, fundamental difference between a hard-working African brother whose trader visa expired during an economic slowdown, and a criminal. Our citizens are not criminals. They have not broken any criminal laws, they are not on any police wanted lists, and they are not fleeing justice.

The Government of Ghana is executing this historic evacuation entirely out of a sovereign obligation to protect human lives from anti-immigrant violence. We are bringing our people back home with their dignity completely intact. At Kotoka International Airport, they are being met with open arms, trauma counseling, and our 'Welcome Home' financial integration packages. We will spend whatever it takes to ensure that no matter where a Ghanaian is in this world, their state will stand as an absolute shield for their survival."

With the second batch of 300 citizens successfully undergoing final travel screenings under High Commissioner H.E. Benjamin Quashie in Pretoria, Ablakwa's unwavering defense has beautifully set a new standard for modern African diplomacy. It sends a powerful, uncompromised message across the continent: Ghana will aggressively honor and defend the character of her global diaspora, ensuring that procedural immigration challenges are never used to distort the integrity of her people.