Ahwoi Weeps for Selormey, Peprah Others

Food and Agriculture Minister, Kwesi Ahwoi, yesterday showed how emotionally attached he was to the much talked-about Aveyime rice project, which is situated in the Volta region.

This was when he was responding to queries from The Chronicle about the current state of affairs of the project when his Ministry took its turn at the meet-the-press series in Accra, yesterday.

"It is too emotional for me; I don't normally want to talk, I just want to see and work at getting that project deliver for the sake of my brothers whose lives have been messed up because they have been to jail not on account of corruption, but administrative mishap perpetrated by the Manager of the project at that time", he said.

For the fate that he and his other colleague Ministers were made to suffer, Mr. Ahwoi has committed himself to make the project one of the most vibrant in the country, to prove his doubters wrong. "We are proving that the project is viable and it will produce the rice that we want to see."

Mr. Ahwoi could not fathom the circumstance under which his colleagues were prosecuted and subsequently sent to jail, stressing "not that they stole any rice, they didn't eat a cup of rice, they didn't steal US $1.00 but the project called Aveyime that was being mismanaged by the then management sent my colleague Ministers, my friends and brothers to jail." That notwithstanding, he said "so we are back and thank God we are now in charge and we are running Aveyime again."

According to him, the Aveyime rice project which has been decked with so many controversies is that the controversial project has been conceived and become viable. Like all other projects, he noted that it could have gone astray since it happens everywhere.

He noted that for the crimes and iniquities of the Managers of the said project, he and his other colleagues had to suffer, saying "granted that we suffered, all the equipment that came for this project, the tax payers money that were used in bringing those equipment, the plane that was to spray the farm, the tractors, the silos, the rice mill which was described by the witnesses at that time as first class, were deliberately allowed by the then government to go waste."

The Food and Agriculture Minister described it as a fantastic project, indicating that with just one pump, out of the remaining 40 which is lying obsolete, he noted that they have already cultivated 300 hectares of the land and will do the next 300 hectares sometime soon.

According to him, they have harvested the first 80 hectares of rice from the farm. Obviously not happy with the fate he and his other colleagues were made to suffer, Mr. Ahwoi could not but asked "if we had not been political myopic and we had allowed this project to run 8years ago, can you imagine where this country will be by now in our rice exports?" Under the current circumstance, he noted that the government has no other option than to revamp the project and make it viable.