The High Commission of Ghana in Pretoria has acknowledged that errors were made in the evacuation records of 15 Ghanaians who were repatriated from South Africa. The mission said the dates flagged as future birth dates in a JoyNews analysis were actually passport expiry dates, a mistake that occurred during the emergency evacuation.
According to a statement released Monday, the discrepancies were minor clerical errors that affected 15 of the 1,964 evacuees. The commission confirmed that all evacuees had completed the required identification, data‑processing and departure procedures before leaving South Africa.
The commission supplied corrected birth and passport expiry dates for individuals such as James Akoto Baffour, Precious Sekyiwaa, Philip Oduro and Victoria Eduaquah. It also clarified that six members of the Jibril family travelled on Emergency Travel Certificates.
Officials said the mistakes were likely due to the emergency circumstances surrounding the evacuation and that the errors do not invalidate the identities of the evacuees or the allowances they received. The commission urged the media and public to rely on the amended records and thanked the press for promoting transparency.
Moving forward, the High Commission said it will continue to verify records with official sources to prevent similar issues.
