Ghana rejects MTN's ₦2.4 billion offer to help xenophobia victims, says it has enough funding

• Ghana rejected MTN's GH¢20 million offer to support citizens returning from South Africa.

• The government said it had already made adequate provisions for evacuation and resettlement.

• MTN's proposed fund was doubled from GH¢10 million before Ghana formally declined it.

Ghana has turned down a GH¢20 million donation from MTN Ghana meant to support citizens affected by the ongoing xenophobic attacks in South Africa, insisting the government already has sufficient funds to cover the crisis on its own.

The offer wasn't small, and it wasn't MTN's first move either. The telecom giant had initially set aside GH¢10 million as an immediate welcome-back package for returnees, before doubling it to GH¢20 million after deciding a larger fund would have more impact. 

MTN Ghana Board Chairman Dr Ishmael Yamson said the company wanted to help returnees rebuild their lives properly, not just get by. "We'll do it in a big way. We'll do it in a way that will make more meaning," he said.

Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it only became aware of the donation plan through media reports referencing Yamson's remarks and moved quickly to shut it down publicly.

"The Government of Ghana commends MTN for the offer, however, we respectfully decline," the ministry said in a statement issued by Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

According to the ministry, the rejection wasn't a surprise to MTN. The government says it had already communicated its decision directly to Yamson and MTN Ghana's CEO nearly two weeks earlier, when the pair visited Ablakwa on August 14.

The ministry maintains that the Mahama administration has made "adequate provision" for evacuating and resettling Ghanaians caught up in the violence, and doesn't need outside funding to do it. It also promised to publish a full breakdown of evacuation costs once the exercise wraps up, framing the rejection as a transparency move rather than pride.

Notably, MTN itself had earlier apologised for responding too slowly to the crisis, with Yamson pointing out that the Ghanaian arm of the company has over 120,000 local shareholders and a workforce that's 98% Ghanaian, arguing MTN had a responsibility to act.

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The situation looks different two borders up. In Nigeria, MTN's support for returnees, including free SIMs, ₦50,000 worth of data, and ₦100,000 cash payouts, was accepted without pushback.

As of the time of this report, MTN Ghana has not publicly responded to the rejection.