The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says it will petition the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the commissioning of the Akotombra Rice Factory.

The President, on September 5 opened the ¢6.7 million facility at Sefwi Akontombra as part of his tour of the Western North Region.

But the party's regional wing suspects foul play regarding the amount said quoted by government adding that this could be "a daylight robbery of the people’s cash."

"It is worthy of note that the singular most expensive thing there is the Husker machine which even doesn’t cost more than $185,000 which is equivalent to ¢1,110,000.00. Even if the two warehouses should cost ¢500,000 each and the administration block costing ¢300,000 and ¢200,000 for the canteen with the land and its documentation costing ¢300,000, it still won’t amount to the amount quoted to be the cost of the project.

"If we are to even add a ¢90,000 cost of a generator plant to the cost, this will amount to a total cost of ¢3m and not ¢6.7m. We have the quoted price for the Husker in our hands," the Western Regional Communications Bureau said.

A press release signed by Sam Jerome said the party will subsequently write officially to the Special Prosecutor to trigger a probe into the matter.

"We are appealing to the Office of the Special Prosecutor to begin an immediate investigation into this allegation," the NDC added.

Read the full statement below:

NDC Western North Communication Bureau

Proper investigation must be conducted into the ¢6.7m Akontombra rice factory under the one district one factory project in the western north region

The 1D1F project as we all know was a manifesto promise by the Nana Addo-Bawumia government in their first term of governance. Under the 1D1F project, the duo promised to build at least one factory at each district of the Republic of Ghana for a period of four years.

This promise turned to be nothing but a hoax of which the opposition NDC exposed. However, the government argued otherwise irrespective of the glaring evidence which supported the claim and proposition of the NDC.

On the 5th of September, 2021, the President as part of his tour to the Western North commissioned a Ghc6.7m rice factory at Sefwi Akontombra as part of his achievement. In as much as we find this laughable, we suspect a daylight robbery of the people’s cash.

The said factory has two warehouses of which one houses the machine(the Husker) and the other as storage where the processed rice are packed or stored. It also has one administration block and a canteen.

It is worthy of note that the singular most expensive thing there is the Husker machine which even doesn’t cost more than $185,000 which is equivalent to ¢1,110,000.00. Even if the two warehouses should cost Ghc500,000 each and the administration block costing ¢300,000 and ¢200,000 for the canteen with the land and its documentation costing ¢300,000, it still won’t amount to the amount quoted to be the cost of the project.

If we are to even add a ¢90,000 cost of a generator plant to the cost, this will amount to a total cost of ¢3m and not ¢6.7m. We have the quoted price for the Husker in our hands.

We are appealing to the Office of the Special Prosecutor to begin an immediate investigation into this allegation. However, we shall officially write to the OSP and CHRAJ to take up this matter. The good people of the Republic deserves better.

Sam Jerome
Regional Communication Officer, WN
September 13, 2021.