Minister of State in charge of Government Communication Felix Kwakye Ofosu has defended President John Dramani Mahama's aerial assessment of the June 29 floods, rejecting criticism that the president should have instead visited affected communities.

Responding on the floor of Parliament to concerns raised by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, Mr Kwakye Ofosu said the president was fulfilling his responsibility by assessing the scale of the disaster to inform government action.

"Mr Speaker, President Mahama takes full responsibility and therefore will do what is right," he said.

He described criticism of the president's helicopter tour as misplaced.

"It has been suggested that because the president was on a helicopter to assess the extent of the situation, he had done something wrong," Mr Kwakye Ofosu said.

"Mr Speaker, the president did not go for a jolly ride. The president was not in the helicopter for leisure."

He said the president needed to understand the full extent of the flooding before taking decisions.

"As president, he needed to take firm action. And the way to do it is to see the extent of the problem," he stated.

Mr Kwakye Ofosu also criticised those who argued that visiting a few affected homes would have been a more appropriate response.

"There are those who, for political reasons, suddenly believe that by merely going to one or two houses to shake hands, they had done what was right. But the responsibilities of a president are far weightier than that of an opposition leader," he said.

He urged that political considerations should not overshadow discussions on the disaster.

"There is no room for that kind of misguided politicking in this discussion," he added.

Mr Kwakye Ofosu further noted that Ghana recorded about 140 millimetres of rainfall over a 13-hour period on June 29, compared with 56 millimetres recorded during the whole of 2024.

"So those misguided narratives must be expunged. There must be no room for such illogical conclusions. There must be no room for such misguided politicking," he said.

Read: 'We saw him in the air': Afenyo Markin criticises Mahama's flood response