Former Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, has denied being complicit in the diversion of some rice and fertilizers procured by the government.

According to the Member of Parliament for Abetifi, the allegation made by the Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Mustapha Gbande, is not factual.

“There is no iota of truth in there. Me, Bryan Acheampong, there are certain things you cannot accuse me of doing, and an example is to claim that I don’t have the resources to buy rice to share with my constituents and will resort to stealing the government’s rice and fertilizer for my constituency. That is a blatant lie,” he told Kwame Nkrumah Tikese of Okay FM in an interview.

The former minister explained that the outgoing government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as part of measures to mitigate the impact of last year’s dry spell in the northern part of Ghana, imported 34 thousand metric tons of rice for distribution among affected communities.

He said this was largely carried out with the distribution of 17 thousand metric tons of rice, as well as another 17 thousand tons of rice which was transported to regional warehouses across the northern regions.

He added that the remainder of 17 thousand metric tons of rice is currently under storage at several warehouses in Tema.

“Not even a single grain of rice has gone missing, and no one has diverted a single grain of rice anywhere. So if you wake up in the morning and come on the radio to shout that rice has gone missing, all the rice is there. Your own transition team has gone to look at it. Those they authorized to check at the distribution centers can confirm the same,” he said.



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