By Love Wilhelmina Abanonave
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has been accused of mismanaging funds allocated for food relief programmes, with allegations of missing rice and maize, as well as overpayments for transportation services.
According to Deputy Finance Minister Dr. Thomas Nyarko Ampem, the government paid for 34,000 metric tonnes of rice in 2024 to address the impact of the dry spell. However, MoFA only received and distributed 24,000 metric tonnes, leaving 10,000 metric tonnes unaccounted for.
“In 2024, the government of Ghana paid for 34,000 metric tonnes of rice to address the impact of the dry spell. However, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture received and distributed only 24,000 metric tonnes. To date, 10,000 metric tonnes of rice remain unaccounted for, even though the entire quantity has been fully paid for,” he revealed.
Presenting audit findings to Parliament on March 10, Dr. Nyarko Ampem also highlighted discrepancies in the supply of maize. Government had contracted a company to supply 100,000 metric tonnes, but only 11,900 metric tonnes were supplied and distributed, despite MoFA submitting a stalls receipt advice as evidence of delivery for the full quantity.
Furthermore, a transportation company was overpaid for transporting grains, receiving 50 million Ghana cedis for moving only 35,000 out of 134,000 metric tonnes, and an additional 11.7 million Ghana cedis for 7,311 metric tonnes of rice that were reportedly not transported.
According to the Deputy Finance Minister, the Auditor-General has rejected an additional payment request of 65.2 million Ghana cedis to the transportation company.
