North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has criticised the Sanitation Minister, Freda Prempeh for saying that the flood victims refused evacuation.

He insists the Sanitation Minister peddled falsehood.

The Sanitation and Water Resources Minister blamed victims of the floods induced by the spillage of the Akosombo Dam for not heeding early warnings by the Volta River Authority and other state agencies to evacuate.

Speaking at a forum organised by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and its customers in Accra on Monday, October 23, she blamed the extent of damage caused by the Akosombo Dam spillage on the refusal of residents living along the dam to evacuate.

Also read: https://www.myjoyonline.com/akosombo-dam-spillage-sanitation-minister-blames-victims-for-not-heeding-warnings-by-authorities-to-evacuate/

According to the lawmaker, the Sanitation Minister must retract and apologise for her comment.

Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story on Wednesday, October 25, Mr Ablakwa explained that no team was in his constituency for an evacuation exercise.

He said that by the time the evacuation team arrived, days had passed since the flood and the young people in the affected areas were rescuing people from danger.

“It is not true that there was an attempt to evacuate people and they refused to go,” he clarified.

He suggested that the government must carry out an honest introspection of the matter and stop blaming victims of the flood.

“The people are down, you have messed them up, you have left them devastated, why are you still kicking them with callous lies, gross insensitivity and inhumane statements? So the Sanitation Minister must sanitise her thoughts,” he said.

“She also adds that we asked them to move as if the people were squatters. Let me be clear to you. The people here, my constituents and all the affected areas have been living in this community for decades before the Akosombo and Kpong Dams were constructed. They are not squatters. The Minister talks as if these are some squatters who just arrived on the scene and are becoming a nuisance. I mean she ought to sanitise her thoughts,” he added.

On September 15, the Volta River Authority began spilling excess water due to rising levels of the Akosombo and Kpong hydro dams.

Weeks after the spillage began, many residents living along the Lower Volta Basin lost their homes and farms to the floods caused by the spillage.

Currently, nine districts find themselves reeling under the fury of the racing spillage, their inhabitants caught up in this humanitarian crisis.

The heart-wrenching tales emerge from the South, Central, and North Tongu districts of the Volta Region, where the devastation knows no bounds.

The once vibrant communities of Battor, Tefle, Mepe, Sogakope, Adidome, and Anlo have been submerged, their existence nearly swallowed by the unrelenting waters.

Many residents have self-evacuated while NADMO and other agencies have joined the rescue efforts.

Some institutions and individuals have also presented relief items to residents.