The National Disaster Management Organisation NADMO has admitted it mistakenly added some expired cooking oil to food items presented to flood victims in Wa by the Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia over the weekend.

NADMO has swiftly initiated a move to withdraw the expired cooking oil and replace them with new ones.

According to NADMO, the expired cooking oil had been isolated at the warehouse in Wa awaiting authentication by the internal auditor, before they could be disposed-off.

However, when loading boys were picking the items for distribution to the flood victims, they erroneously picked six expired cooking oil and added them to the items.

George Ayisi, Director of Communications at NADMO said NADMO was in Wa to help the flood victims but, “unfortunately when we were loading relief items, respectfully, oil, we had in our warehouse in Wa, some expired items which expired on the 28th of August which has been put aside, some of the loaders, unfortunately, picked about six of the oil and then added them to the items that were being loaded and that is how come unfortunately we have this situation.”

Explaining, Mr Ayisi said when items expire, they put them aside for the internal auditor to come and inspect and authenticate that indeed, they are expired, and they need to be disposed-off before they give the authorisation for the items to be disposed-off.

“If that is not done, the Regional Director does not have the authority to dispose-off the items, you know they were bought with government money and so we need to account for every single item that goes to the warehouse,” he said.

Cooking oil and rice were among food items distributed to flood victims in Wa and Sissala East municipalities by the Vice President during his visit to the region on Saturday, September 22, 2018

But while some of the cooking oil had September 10, 2018, as expiry date, the bag of rice did not have an expiry date at all.

According to reports, some beneficiaries of the items have since complained about having suffered various health conditions, including stomach upset, upon the consumption of the food items.

Meanwhile, NADMO's admission comes after, the opposition National Democratic Congress in the Upper West Region has claimed that some of the food items distributed to flood victims by the National Disaster Management Organisation, NADMO in the area following devastating floods that displaced thousands of residents, are expired.

At a press conference in the regional capital Wa on Tuesday, 25 September 2018, the party’s communication officer, Prosper Puo-ire, claimed the bags of rice given to the victims were weevil-infested while the bottles of cooking oil had also expired.