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?

Who in government is behind this utter cruelty? pic.twitter.com/yTgKB5u36V

— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) October 22, 2023

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.

CSOs under the umbrella of the Alliance of Feminists Civil Societies Organisations (AFCSOs) are demanding immediate consideration of their plea. 

The group in a press statement issued on Wednesday, October 18, said the fundamental human rights of the affected persons must be considered. 

“The AFCSOs is calling on His Excellency the President of the republic as a matter of urgency to consider relocating flood victims to Saglemi Housing Project while awaiting finality to be brought to this critical issue.”

“We call on the government, as a matter of urgency, to provide flood victims decent accommodation by relocating them to Saglemi housing project as the right to shelter is a fundamental human right while other interventions are being provided for them.”

The CSOs added that adequate compensation should be given to the victims as well. 

It concluded that “we urge the government to prepare adequate compensation for the victims to help minimize the impact of the flood especially the women and children as they would eventually be most affected in these areas.”

There is a rallying cry for help to be sent to communities along the Volta Basin that have been affected by the spillage from the Akosombo Dam.

Areas such as Anloga, Sogakope, and Mepe, among others, have been submerged by floodwaters, displacing thousands.

This is a result of the controlled spillage of the Akosombo and Kpong dams by the Volta River Authority (VRA) due to the rising levels of the Volta Lake.

Over the past week, the situation has worsened, with the government and various stakeholders mobilising relief items to ameliorate the plight of the displaced victims.

Already, the Electricity Company of Ghana and the Ghana Water Company Limited both cut services to the affected areas, the former for safety, and the latter for health concerns as the floods have also submerged its pumps and also overrun toilets.

According to the Head of Central Analysis and Forecasting at GMeT, Felicity Ahafianyo there is about 40 to 60 % chance of rain in the area.

“In terms of the weather over the lower Volta Basin area, rain is still in the forecast for them for the next two weeks,” she said in an interview with JoyNews.

She added that it is expected to start “from Wednesday up to Sunday and then Monday to the following Sunday too, we still have a 40 to 60% chance of rain. By weekend too, we are expecting another outburst of rains.”

Asked whether the rain quantities are expected to cause flooding, Madam Ahafianyo replied in the affirmative.

She explained that the ground is already saturated due to the spillage therefore “any rain that will come will have a runoff that is likely to cause flooding in the flood-prone areas.”

Already, thousands have been displaced with their houses submerged as a result of the spillage and have been compelled to live in shelters while others perch with their relatives.

Meanwhile, the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church, Ghana, Reverend Stephen Wengam has called on the government to declare a state of emergency.

In a news conference, he noted that declaring a state of emergency would add to the necessary legislative and humanitarian weight to measures undertaken to bring the depressing situation under control.

“We are witnessing a flood and disaster on an epic scale and with devastating consequences in the parts of the Volta, Eastern and Greater Accra regions as a result of the spillage of huge volumes of water from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams.

“It bears recounting that entire communities have been submerged in the floodwaters. Thousands of people including children have been displaced and property with millions of Ghana cedis lost. To make the desperate humanitarian situation worse, public cemeteries and toilets have also been submerged in floods, thus polluting sources of drinking water and igniting public health emergency concerns.

“This catastrophe of unprecedented proportions calls for a response of unparalleled urgency,” he explained.

Also, the North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said he does not see the delay in the declaration of the state of emergency when entire communities have been wiped out as a result of the flood.

According to him, there is a need for the situation to be declared as a state of emergency, adding that it will trigger a lot of international support.

“A number of diplomats have reached out that it is all they are waiting for,” he noted.