Ghanaians must punish NPP for feeding students with expired rice – Apaak

The Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak, has stated that Ghanaians must punish the New Patriotic Party and their flag bearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, in the December 7 election for feeding Senior High Schools with expired rice.

This comes on the back of a member of the Bawumia campaign team, Kwadwo Poku, stating that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia will investigate the Senior High School expired rice issues.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, disclosed that about 22,000 bags of rice dispatched to various Senior High Schools (SHSs) across the country had expired and were repackaged.

In an interview on Joy FM, Ablakwa, who doubles as the Chairman of the Assurance Committee of Parliament, said the ploy to distribute the consignment was deliberate on the part of the perpetrators.

“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, the brand ‘Moshosho rice’, which expired in December 2023. Upon realizing the rice had expired, they conspired with the Buffer Stock company to use their premises for re-bagging,” he alleged.

However, speaking on TV3, Mr. Kwadwo Poku said the issue must not be politicized, adding that the technocrats within the state agencies, such as the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), should be held responsible.

“This is not a political issue; all the people mentioned in this at the FDA, Buffer stock, and lamens are not politicians; they are technocrats. This is a matter of criminality if it is proven; if it is true, then the CID should come and investigate. I don’t think we should look at this issue as political; let us not make this an election-winning issue; no politician is involved.

“We don’t need to politicize this matter. Our flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, will ensure this issue is investigated when he wins the election. If anyone is found culpable, he or she must be punished”, Poku stated

Commenting on the matter, the Builsa South lawmaker questioned why the Vice President can only institute an investigation in the unlikely event that he becomes President.

“Our children are being fed unwholesome food under a government whose Veep is the Flagbearer of the same party currently in government, and you are telling Ghanaians that the same Veep/Flagbearer will investigate such criminal wickedness when he becomes President?” Dr. Apaak tweeted.

He continued: “What prevents DMB from causing an investigation into this matter now? Is he not on record claiming to have initiated and led all matters of initiatives? Ghanaians must severely punish DMB/NPP for feeding our children expired rice.”