Government spokesperson, Kofi Tonto, clarified that wife of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Samira Bawumia, was not an official government delegate at the COP28 summit in Dubai.

Mr Tonto explained that Mrs. Bawumia's trip was sponsored by climate change advocacy groups she had been engaged with over the years.

While not justifying the size of Ghana's delegation, Tonto emphasized the need to set the record straight regarding Samira Bawumia's participation.

“The government didn’t sponsor Samira to go to COP. Samira has been engaged in a lot of climate work activity… Just do a cursory look on her social media, you will see that Samira has been doing climate work for the longest time,” he defended.

Aside from that, she is even engaged in clean cooking, "part of climate change is ensuring accessible, sustainable, affordable and clean cooking fuels for African women and children,” he read from one of Samira’s social media posts.

Kofi Tonto highlighted that Samira Bawumia had participated in Pre-COP28 meetings in Ghana before attending the summit in Dubai. The host of the program acknowledged the occurrence of these preparatory meetings.

Opposition Member of Parliament, Murtala Mohammed, had criticized the delegation's size and questioned the presence of the Second Lady at the summit.