22,000 Bags Of Expired Rice Allegedly Distributed To High Schools Across The Country
According to Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, 22,000 bags of repackaged and expired rice were sent to Senior High Schools (SHSs) all around the nation.
According to him, the shipment was delivered in February of this year via the Free Senior High School Secretariat.
The MP, who is also the head of Parliament’s Assurances Committee, stated that the action was purposefully carried out in his own probe into the case following a tip.
According to him, “The National Food Buffer Stock Company clearly conspired with a company known as Lamens Investments Africa Limited. They used the Buffer Stock storage facility in Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region, to repackage expired rice. This company brought in rice from India, branded ‘Moshosho rice,’ which expired last December. Upon realizing the rice had expired, they conspired with the Buffer Stock company to use their premises for re-bagging.”
According to him, the rice was repackaged into locally produced sacks bearing the labels “ECOWAS” and “Made in Ghana rice,” although they lacked an expiration date.
On Thursday, November 14, Mr. Okudzeto made these claims in an interview with Joy FM’s Midday News.
He added that after getting a tip, the Ashanti Regional Police Command and the local Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) seized the food for further examination. Later on, though, it was made available for distribution.
“Can you believe that, before the test results arrived from the FDA in Accra on February 6, an instruction came from above that the expired, contaminated rice should be distributed to the schools? So, as we speak, all 22,000 bags of rice that the police sought to confiscate have been sent to the schools,” he said.
The MP further claimed that Lynbrok, a bonded warehouse in Tema, had about 10,000 bags.
The MP claims that once the case was made public, an investigation was started but was later shelved after the corporation in question agreed to pay GH₵100,000 in compensation.
He said, “There ought to be prosecution. The company has admitted to their wrongdoing and agreed to pay a fine of GH₵100,000 after jeopardizing the health of thousands of Ghanaian students.”
He added that the company had not paid the full fine and could not be traced. “Even the fine – they have only paid half of it, and they can’t be located to pay the remainder,” he claimed.
The rice, according to the FDA’s results, was “so contaminated, it had insects and a very high acidity level. Medical doctors who have seen the FDA results say that this rice should have been destroyed,” the MP said.
The MP is therefore calling for a full investigation into the matter and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
