North Tongu Member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has told President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to go beyond the mere visits and the rhetoric to outline plans to alleviate the plight of the people of Mepe and the other areas in the Volta Region who have been hit by the flood occasioned by the Akosombo dam spillage.
Mr Ablakwa indicated that the people are currently faced with a humanitarian crisis and expect the President to take action to ameliorate their hardship.
“I do not think that this is the time to be talking about votes, this is a humanitarian crisis, people have been submerged, entire communities have been submerged under the water and the VRA continues to spill.
“All the indications are that many more communities are going to be affected. My concern at this point is not about the election, I am thinking about saving lives, I am thinking about making sure that people are protected so that they can keep body and soul together in the various 19 caps that we have established,” Mr Ablakwa told TV3 on Monday.
Regarding the voting comment made by the President, Mr Ablakwa said “I think that those comments [by the President] are not necessary at this point. My people think that his response was too late, the way he swiftly comments on disasters elsewhere. Particularly, in other countries. We didn’t see that in this. It took a lot of public agitations for him to set up the inter-ministerial committee and then to come and visit us here, but they say better late than never, we acknowledge his visit. What is really important is not a mere visit, mere rhetoric. We want to see what plans are being put in place to alleviate the plight of our people.”
President Akufo-Addo, while interacting with the people of Mepe who have been affected by the flood caused by the Dam Spillage on Monday, October 16, indicated that he is president for all Ghanaians irrespective of whether or not they voted for him.
The President assured the chiefs and the people of Mepe and the other towns in the North, South, and Central Tongu areas in the Region, a stronghold of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), that the government is going to do whatever it can within its powers to alleviate their plight.
He said “When I took the oath of office as president I took the oath of office as president for every single individual in Ghana, of all the people in Ghana, all districts whether they voted for me or not, once I have taken the oath of office I am the president of all the people.
“So Togbe, you and your elders, I want you to understand that when something like this happens and the government acts government is acting for Ghanaians.
“I came here because Ghanaians are having difficulties and suffering and it is my responsibility to try and help. If it is the question of counting who votes for me and who doesn’t vote for me I shouldn’t be here because you don’t vote for me but that is not my concern. In any event one day, you will vote for me and my party.
“I came here this afternoon to express my sympathies and to commiserate with all the people in the Mepe area. I chose Mepe because this is the area that has been most affected.
“We have to also be very grateful for the work of VRA, the preparation they have been making over the years in such a situation, the simulation exercise, and all the things they have been doing to prepare for this including the sensitization. Because of the good that they have done up until now, by the grace of God, not one single individual has lost his life in this crisis,” he said.
He stressed, “Whatever it is within the powers of the government that can be done to alleviate this situation, it is going to be done.”
The flooding has impacted education, health, mobility, shelter, and access to food for the children in the affected communities.