Member of parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has expressed reservations about the incident that transpired with the alleged withdrawal of the military from Mepe in the Volta region following the flooding caused by the Akosombo dam spillage.

According to him, the good news of the reversal of the order to withdraw the military was directly communicated to him via a telephone call on the “phone of one of the soldiers with a superior on the other side when they returned to base”.

He revealed that contrary to the military’s damage control statement, all the soldiers returned to post and were not deployed to another area.

“I hope a few elements in the military colluding with misguided and heartless political apparatchiks do not succeed in tarnishing the image of our celebrated and highly respected Ghana Armed Forces. Grateful to all well-meaning Ghanaians for their unflinching support. Truth, integrity and justice shall prevail.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

Furthermore, Mr Ablakwa stated that it is particularly instructive to note that despite claims that the situation in Mepe was under control therefore warranting a relocation, the detachment returned to the same location to operate and have remained at post to this very moment.

To this, he noted that the action by the military makes one wonders why the situation is suddenly no longer under control in Mepe.

GAF statement on withdrawal allegations discredited

Elsewhere, the North Tongu legislator reacting to the Armed Forces statement on the withdrawal of personnel allegation highlighted that the statement is “laughable, a total fabrication”, as there was no deployment to Battor.

Mr Ablakwa equally revealed that the statement is full of “blatant falsehood” and that whoever drafted the statement has not done the military’s image any good.

“First of all, it is not true that the situation in Mepe is under control, the water levels have not receded, in many places that you have to walk, people use boats, so it is not true that the situation has been brought under considerable control.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

Justifying his stance, Mr Ablakwa emphasized that the claim that there is some refinement in Battor is equally untrue. He explained that he has been on the grounds permanently and all his constituents have had such a “laugh” since GAF released the statement because the epicentre of the disaster is Mepe.

“… Everybody knows, there is no other place in Battor that requires urgent assistance, and you can redeploy from Mepe to Battor. Whoever drafted that statement doesn’t know what he is talking about, he has not been to the grounds. There was no deployment anywhere, they didn’t go and help anybody in Battor, I was in Battor, there was no operation in Battor.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

Meanwhile, the Africa Education Watch has called on the Ministry of Education to support the Ghana Education Service and the Centre for National Distance Learning and Open Schooling (CENDLOS) to deploy pre-recorded learning content used during the COVID-19 school closure on media networks and energy efficient mobile learning devices in the affected areas.

Eduwatch revealed that education service has been disrupted for two weeks in some districts/communities, and that while the impact of the dam’s spillage on education is more pronounced in North Tongu, South Tongu, and Pru East, other districts remain at risk of being affected, as the spillage continues.

This situation, it noted, calls into question the education sector’s emergency preparedness.

Moreover, Eduwatch urged District Assemblies to work closely with Education Directors to identify safe shelters for students to gather and participate in the virtual learning deployment under the guidance of teachers or facilitators.

“We call on the Ministry of Education to speed up the process of finalizing, resourcing, and implementing an EIE Plan for Ghana. We call for the regular support of Education Development Partners and Non-Governmental Organizations towards providing education aid and restoring education service in the affected districts.”
Africa Education Watch