Reports from Mepe, one of the towns affected by flooding in the Volta Region, indicate that the military, which was assisting in transporting relief items, has been called back to their bases.
Videos emerging from the community on Sunday, October 22, show soldiers loading their canoes back onto trucks for transportation.
The community is one of the about eight districts hardest hit by the spillage of the Akosombo and Kpong dams by the Volta River Authority (VRA).
A tweet by a broadcaster who was on the ground during this supposed recall explained that this was due to a supposed “order from above.”
Victims of this humanitarian crisis began to wonder how the relief items would manage to reach their campsites, including the St Kizito shelter where about 1,500 of them were camped.
On the site was Member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwah, who expressed dissatisfaction about the development.
“Why are they doing this to us? We are also Ghanaians? We are human beings? I mean nobody is a second-class citizen in this country. Why are they recalling the military? Why should they be doing that? I can’t believe what is going on,” he lamented to Naa Ashorkor.
He subsequently tweeted that “Who “above” has given orders to the military detachment helping us cross flood waters to immediately withdraw when the water levels haven’t receded and when thousands of lives are at stake in camps across these waters? Who in government is behind this utter cruelty?”
Who "above" has given orders to the military detachment helping us cross flood waters to immediately withdraw when the water levels haven't receded and when thousands of lives are at stake in camps across these waters?
— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) October 22, 2023
Who in government is behind this utter cruelty? pic.twitter.com/yTgKB5u36V
Meanwhile, the North Tongu legislator has announced that he has fresh information a new decision to reverse the order.
“I just received a call indicating that the order has been reversed and that the soldiers have been directed to return with their boats and resume duty,” he tweeted.