By Wilberforce Asare

Copyright asaaseradio

The leader of displaced Ghanaians in the Ivorian region of Bouna, Kawuro Kwasi David, has dismissed claims that roughly 8,000 refugees in Côte d’Ivoire have returned home to Ghana.

Describing the claim as untrue in an interaction with Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh, the deputy ranking member of Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, the leader of the refugees in Vonkoro, a village in Bouna Department, had this to say:

“We are a little over 5,000 in this camp, and the Foreign Affairs Minister said that 8,000 of us in Côte d’Ivoire have returned to Ghana. Why is nobody from this camp – which is the largest [one] – part of the 8,000 claimed to have returned home?” Kawuro said.

“This makes it difficult for us to believe the number of people who are said to have returned home.

“In any event, neither the Foreign Affairs Minister nor any embassy staff visited any of the other refugee camps housing us. How were they able to conclude that 8,000 have gone back to Ghana?” Kawuro said.

Dispersed displacement

Kawuro Kwasi David, who is the assembly member for the Bale Electoral Area in the Bole District, also expressed doubts about the total number of Ghanaians displaced, as he estimated that thousands of people also fled to Burkina Faso at the height of the violence in Gbiniyiri in Ghana’s Savannah Region.

The leader of the refugees gave the background, explaining: “Over 13,000 of us came to Côte d’Ivoire. Most of us – about 5,000 – are in Vonkoro. Others are in Dagbekura, Gbotogbo, Tchormiikura, Masiiteen et cetera.

“So the minister only subtracted the 5,000 from the 13,000 to arrive at the 8,000 returnees, when he hasn’t visited these other communities,” Kawuro guessed.

Although returning to Ghana from Côte d’Ivoire is the refugees’ ultimate goal, the leader of the displaced persons wondered how they would cope with life if they go back, given the destruction caused to their farms, houses and other property.

“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 burned and farms completely destroyed.

“What are we going to do, should we return home?” he asked, speaking sadly.

The Minority Caucus in Parliament sent a delegation to visit the displaced Ghanaians in Côte d’Ivoire following the violence that rocked settlements in parts of the Savannah Region of Ghana. The visitors gathered information on the situation on the ground and made a donation to the refugees.

The Asafo-Adjei Ayeh-led team arrived in Abidjan on Wednesday (17 September 2025) and visited the refugees in Vonkoro yesterday (Thursday 18 September). The team has since returned to Ghana with the findings from its fieldwork.

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