Dr. Bawumia Demands State of Emergency to Combat Flood Crisis, Pleading for End to Partisan Bickerings | Discuss Ghana

The intense political discourse following Accra's record-breaking 140-millimeter deluge has taken a highly strategic turn. Stepping directly onto the active crisis floor, the former Vice President and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has publicly appealed to the executive branch to immediately declare a National State of Emergency to address the scale of the destruction.

Dr. Bawumia made the high-profile declaration during an urgent, first-hand assessment tour of Atala, a severely impacted, low-lying community inside the Ga South Municipality. Wading through the receding mud of the neighborhood—where the overflow of local river channels has left hundreds of families displaced—the opposition leader attempted to reshape the narrative, calling for a pause on the aggressive blame-shifting that has dominated the aftermath of the storm.

The Atala Declaration: Two Core Mandates

Dr. Bawumia’s address to the displaced residents and media crews focused heavily on operational mobilization and civic unity:

The Emergency Statehood Trigger: By calling for a formal state of emergency under Article 31 of the constitution, the flagbearer argued that the sheer volume of infrastructure damage requires the immediate redirection of state resources. A formal declaration would allow for the swift deployment of military engineering assets to assist NADMO with large-scale water extraction and relief distributions across devastated suburban belts.

The Immediate Relief Pipeline: Expressing deep concern for families sleeping in temporary tents, the former Vice President urged the government to instantly release emergency food, bedding, and medical supplies from national stockpiles. He emphasized that resolving immediate human suffering must take priority over long-term structural debates.

The Anti-Politicization Plea: In a direct rebuke to commentators from both the NPP and NDC who have spent the last twenty-four hours using the disaster as an electoral weapon, Dr. Bawumia issued a stern appeal for national solidarity:

"When a disaster of this scale hits our homeland, the floodwaters do not ask whether your house belongs to an NPP or NDC supporter. The destruction affects every single Ghanaian equally. This is not the time for cheap political point-scoring or finger-pointing.

I am appealing to all politicians, media houses, and citizens: do not politicize the suffering of our people. Let us put our partisan differences aside, work in absolute unity, and focus completely on rescuing those in distress. I am urging the authorities to release relief items to the victims immediately, and I call on the President to declare a state of emergency so we can tackle this crisis with the unified national weight it requires."