The leader of displaced Ghanaians in Côte d’Ivoire’s Bouna region, Kawuro Kwasi David, has dismissed claims that some 8,000 Ghanaian refugees have returned home.
Speaking during an interaction with the Deputy Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh, at Vonkoro the largest refugee settlement in the area Mr. David described the claims as untrue.
“We are a little over 5,000 in this camp, and the Foreign Affairs Minister said that 8,000 of us in the Ivory Coast have returned to Ghana. Why is nobody from this camp, which is the largest, part of the 8,000 claimed to have returned home? This makes it difficult for us to believe the number of people who’re said to have returned home,” he said.
He further questioned how the figure was arrived at, noting that neither the Foreign Affairs Minister nor any Ghanaian Embassy officials had visited the camps.
According to him, over 13,000 people fled into Côte d’Ivoire following violent clashes in Ghana’s Savannah Region, with around 5,000 currently settled in Vonkoro, and others spread across Dagbekura, Gbotogbo, Tchormiikura, and Masiiteen.
“The Minister only subtracted the 5,000 here from the 13,000 to conclude that 8,000 have returned, without visiting the other communities,” he claimed.
While acknowledging that returning home remains the ultimate goal, Mr. David expressed fears about the future of displaced persons if they are resettled without adequate support.
“It is our desire to go back home, but to which home really and to eat what? Where will we sleep? Our livestock are gone, houses burnt and farms completely destroyed. What are we going to do should we return home?” he lamented.
The Minority Caucus in Parliament dispatched a delegation, led by Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh, to Côte d’Ivoire to visit the refugees and make donations. The team arrived in Abidjan on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, and visited the Vonkoro camp the following day before returning to Ghana.
