The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Volta Caucus of the Members of Parliament (MPs) have donated three hundred bags of 25 kilograms rice to more than five hundred beneficiaries in identifiable and vulnerable groups across the South Tongu District and the Ketu South Municipality of the Volta Region.

One hundred bags of the rice were distributed among petty traders, bread sellers and hawkers at the Sogakope toll gate, UniPetrol station, the bread market, Traffic Light as well as the Vekon Sales Point, all at Sogakope in the South Tongu District. Other recipients of the food items in the district were traders at the customs checkpoint at Dabala.

The Ketu South Municipality has received the remaining two hundred bags of the rice. The rice received in the municipality is to be distributed to head porters, commercial motor riders, fisher folks and the aged and physically challenged persons across the municipality.

The members of these identified vulnerable groups have been hard hit by the recent lock-down imposed on some parts of Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions as part of efforts to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The distribution of the rice package was done on behalf of the NDC party and the Volta parliamentary caucus by an eight-member delegation led by chairman of the caucus and Member of Parliament for Ho West, Hon. Emmanuel Kwesi Bedzra. He was accompanied by the MPs for Ketu South, Hon. Franklin Fiifi Fiavi Kwetey, South Tongu, Hon. Wisdom Mensah Korbla Woyome and Central Tongu, Hon. Alex Roosevelt Gabby Hottordze.

Other members of the delegation included the parliamentary candidate for Ketu South on the ticket of NDC in the 2020 elections, Hon. Dzifa Gomashie as well as the Deputy Regional Treasurer of the party, Madam Evelyn Gaglozu.

Addressing the media after the donation tour, Hon. Bedzra urged the petty traders, hawkers and the beneficiary workers to continue to observe all the health protocols associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, emphasizing that the disease is real and should not be taken for granted.

Mr. Bedzra further emphasized that the NDC and the Volta Caucus of MPs were not distributing what he described as ‘free rice’ to anyone, explaining that the support was mainly to the beneficiaries whose livelihoods depend on the movement of goods and persons along the main Accra-Aflao road through the Ketu South Municipality and the South Tongu District.

The beneficiaries, however, were extremely grateful to the NDC party and the Volta caucus for their kind gesture.