Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, a former Greater Accra Regional Minister, has backed President John Dramani Mahama’s helicopter tour of flood-hit areas in Accra.
The former Accra Regional Minister dismissed critics who suggested President Mahama should have toured the affected communities by road.
According to him, one cannot blame the president for going up at the time because everywhere was flooded and the vehicles wouldn’t have been able to navigate the flood-hit areas.
He described Mahama’s helicopter tour of flood-hit areas as practical and necessary.
Speaking on The Big Issue on Channel One TV on Saturday, July 4, Afotey-Agbo stated, “You can’t blame the president for going up at the time because everywhere was flooded and the vehicles wouldn’t have been able to move fast enough to know exactly the extent of damage; that is why he went up to ascertain what happened within a short time.
“I used to fly to the Ada area, the Volta region and then fly to the Bortiano and Weija area within a short time and then go to the Airforce base to land and then go on the ground to start working.”
His comments come on the back of President Mahama, who came under public scrutiny after opting to inspect the flood-hit areas from a military helicopter.
One of Mahama’s critics was Kwesi Pratt Jnr, the Managing Editor of The Insight Newspaper, who critiqued President John Dramani Mahama’s decision to inspect flood-hit areas in Accra from a helicopter.
According to Kwesi Pratt, the aesthetics of President Mahama flying in a helicopter to assess June 29 flood devastation was not the best.
Kwesi Pratt argued that Mahama could have better demonstrated empathy by visiting victims in person rather than observing the situation from the air.
He further argued that a helicopter tour could not provide scientific solutions to the country’s flooding problem.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana on July 1, 2026, Kwesi Pratt stated, “Yesterday, or two days ago, the President decided to go on a helicopter trip around the flooded areas to assess the damage. Now, I know the President to be a historian and a journalist.
His trip is not likely to produce a scientific outcome. This helicopter trip is not likely to produce a scientific outcome for the problems that the people of this country are confronted with.it showed some empathy, but I would have thought that would be better displayed if he was walking on the ground, touching people, getting into affected homes, lifting babies and so on; the empathy would have been better expressed than flying around the flooded city in a helicopter”.
Kwesi Pratt added, “I don’t think that the aesthetics are good enough in a situation where you have this massive flooding, and your leaders are in helicopters flying over you. But that has been done; at least it showed some level of concern, even though the aesthetics do not appear to be excellent”.
President Mahama takes to the skies to assess the damage caused by the flooding after the heavy downpour
— Jacqueline Ansomah Yeboah (@Shejackiesays) June 29, 2026
Source @JoyNewsOnTV pic.twitter.com/dW67GqOmiN
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