A member of the Legal and Communications Team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the government to declare a state of emergency following the displacement of thousands of people after the spillage of the Akosombo Dam.
Speaking on Newsfile, on JoyNews, Edudzi Tamakloe explained that this is a disaster that has affected not one but several regions, leaving behind grave devastation in its wake.
He stated that there has been a gap in coordination between authorities and the victims, making the resolution of issues, including the distribution of relief items, difficult.
“What is clear is that if there is a gap, it further fortifies the reason why the call for declaring a state of emergency is important. You have a crisis that effectively has affected the Volta region, Oti region, Eastern region, Greater Accra, Savannah, and the Bono Regions. I mean I don’t remember the last time, in the last 10 years maybe beyond COVID, that we have had a national emergency covering this number of regions.”
“So it becomes necessary that we need to have a state of emergency in place and once you have a state of emergency declared by the President, it provides centrality relative to coordination and that for me is what is lacking,” he stated.
Mr. Tamakloe stated that implementing a state of emergency is essential to effectively address the concerns that have arisen, ensuring equitable distribution of both relief items and critical information throughout the affected area.
He stated that MPs of the constituencies in their bid to help have created a locally structured distribution network in collaboration with traditional authority but more needs to be done.
Additionally, Mr Tamakloe noted that declaring a state of emergency will ensure the government puts in place plans to handle the aftereffects of the flood in the coming months.
“After this situation, remember there will be an issue of resettlement, how we’re going to manage it? The health crisis that may come, is cholera, among other things. Because once it involves water, these matters will come up. So we are not done yet. And that is where I think the call for declaring a state of emergency is even more profound under the circumstances,” he added.
Mr Tamakloe also called for a bipartisan parliamentary probe into the spillage noting that through this probe measures will be developed to ensure that this disaster does not happen again.
