The member of parliament for North Tongu Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has revealed that Senior High School children have been poisoned with the distribution of 22,000 bags of expired rice.
According to the Member of Parliament, the Food and Drug Authority told him the expired rice is unwholesome, has a high percentage of the presence of insects, and should not even be given to animals.
Hon Ablakwa revealed that on 21 December 2023, the Asanti regional police command wrote a letter to the Ashanti Region FDA to help them investigate whether the rice had expired or was good for consumption. However, the FDA in the Ashanti region stated they did not have the labs and capacity, so the sample was sent to Accra.
Speaking on Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV he stated, “ Would you believe, that before the test results came from the FDA Headquarters, an order came from above that they should release the rice, the order came from above that the police and FDA in the Ashanti to just back off and the children need food to eat, they should release the rice to the schools”.
“So, by 2 February all the 22,000 bags of rice have been released out of the warehouse of the storage facility of the National Buffer stock company”, he added.
Okudzeto Ablakwa further added, “Now this is where It gets so freighting, so tragic, by the 6th of February 2024 the FDA result came in, four days after they had released the food, so they released the rice and distributed it to our schools, so recklessly, so callously without knowing the outcome of the test results, so four days after the test results arrived from the FDA and I have the certificate of analysis here I will share them with you”.
“Low and behold, the certificate of analysis shows that the rice was unwholesome it had a high percentage of the present of insects according to the FDA it is here and it does not conform to standards, what they told me is that this is rice that should not be given to animals that the consequences are dire and can even lead to liver cancer and that it should have been destroyed”, he added.
Watch the video below:
Our children have been ‘poisoned’ – @S_OkudzetoAblak reveals stomach churning exposé on rebagged expired rice given to SHS students #GoodMorningGhana #MetroTV pic.twitter.com/LSZoyWvD4q
— Metro TV Ghana (@metrotvgh) November 15, 2024
