Rice contaminated with maggots is served to SHS pupils -MP

Mr Peter Nortsu Kotoe, MP for Akatsi North

The minority spokesperson on education and Member of Parliament (MP) for Akatsi North, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, informed the House that more than 300,000 rice sacks tainted with maggots had been sent to senior high schools around the nation.

The MP claims that despite being kept in a warehouse since 2021 because the importers neglected to pay the necessary duty, the rice that was brought in from India ended up in classrooms all around the nation.

On Thursday, November 23, 2023, during his turn to debate the 2024 budget statement, the MP for Akatsi North asked the House to take a close look at the food that students are given.

"Mr. Speaker, at this very moment, senior high schools are receiving rice supplies into the system. It's from India and is called Lamens. He said, "This rice is infested with maggots, Mr. Speaker."

The MP went on to say, "The rice had to be stored in a warehouse because the importers or suppliers failed to pay the duty when it was imported in 2021. They have now nicodemusly gone ahead and removed this rice and distributed some 5,000 metric tonnes, or more than 300,000 sacks of rice, to the senior high schools.

"The rice is about to expire," he continued. After giving them a few weeks to expire, they have now been sent to all of the nation's senior high schools, where they are being fed to our kids.

"Mr. Speaker, this is really important, and we should look into it thoroughly. When our children arrive home, they will be sick with diarrhea and other ailments if we don't take care of them.

The Member of Parliament was raising issues with the educational system, specifically with the School Feeding program and the meals that he claimed the students were receiving that were unhealthy.

Additionally, the MP claimed that some schools' properties had been auctioned.

He mentioned Ebenezer Secondary School and West Africa Secondary School, including that of UNESCO.

DIGITAL

The MP for Ahafo Ano South, Francis Manu-Adarboh, debating for the majority side, started by assuring the minority that it was easy to verify the status of the UNESCO land to ascertain the owners.

He argued that the land system in Ghana had been the same for a long time, thus the need to go digital. He said that it was necessary to prepare maps with digital coordinates, which would help the government identify every landed property to raise revenue.

The Chairman on the Lands Committee, Francis Manu-Adarboh referred to page 118 of the 2024 budget, where, through digitalization revenue from landed properties have increased, to support his argument that land administration should be fully digital.

He mentioned a system in Sweden, which he said is able to give even the number of doors in a house, and called for the same in Ghana.

“So, what are we waiting for? We have to go digital. We don’t have any choice,” he said and advocated for a private developer to partner with the Lands Commission if the government cannot fund it, to produce maps to serve the whole country.

He thought that these kinds of data would give all institutions a foundation for their study and allow people to ask questions about a piece of land or property and find out all the information they needed, including the owners, just by providing the property's digital code.

He urged the Speaker and the House to back the Lands Commission in its efforts to find a partner to carry out this task and be funded by money the Lands Commission generates internally.