The Minority in Parliament has called for the arrest and prosecution of the Directors of Lamens Investment Africa Limited and sanctions against the Board and Management of the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) over allegations of distributing expired rice to Senior High Schools (SHSs) across Ghana.
The demand follows claims by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, that the two entities conspired to distribute 22,000 bags of expired and repackaged rice to senior high schools.
Ablakwa further alleged that despite Lamens Ventures being flagged by the Auditor General in 2021 for supplying unwholesome food items, the government failed to act.
Addressing the media on Monday, November 18, 2024, the Minority expressed outrage over the matter.
“The NDC Caucus also demands the immediate arrest and prosecution of the directors of Lamens Investments, Africa Limited. The board and management of the National Food Buffer Stock Company
must be sanctioned for allowing their storage facility to be used for this atrocious act and for operating unregistered storage facilities across the country.
“Such recklessness which sacrifices the health of our students for corrupt transactions must not go unpunished,” the minority stated.
The caucus also called for a comprehensive probe into the Ministry of Education’s role in the scandal, particularly accusations that ministry officials pressured the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to drop investigations into the issue.
Additionally, the Minority urged key stakeholders, including the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), teacher unions, and Parent-Teacher Association (PTAs), to advocate against the supply of criminally repackaged and expired food items to schools.
“The Ministry of Education must be probed for its conduct in this despicable affair — not only for supervising this rot which severely endangers the health of SHS students but also for their reported role as alleged by FDA officials that they piled undue pressure to get the FDA to back off. CHASS, teacher unions, PTAs and all Ghanaians must insist that no Senior High School should ever again be made to receive food items which have been criminally re-packaged and do not have expiry dates.
“Our side in respective parliamentary committees has agreed to initiate inquiries into this atrocious affair. We shall not rest until justice is done in this matter. Our SHS students must never be subjected to this unwarranted callousness and heartlessness just because an unscrupulous few seeks to enrich themselves,” the minority caucus.
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