Presidency Office Director, WFP Representative discuss causes of food aid spoilage

SANAA, May 2 (YPA) – Director of the Presidency Office and Chairman of the National Authority for Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Hamed on Thursday discuss with WFP Resident Representative Stephen Anderson and his team causes of food aid spoilage.

The meeting touched on aspects related to the expired and rotten foodstuffs seized in a number of provinces during the past period, which had been supplied by the WFP.

Hamed stressed that the program has to carry out the necessary investigations into the arrival of these quantities of moldy foodstuffs and to take actions ensuring that this would be not be repeated.

“At a time when millions of Yemeni people are suffering from hunger and poverty, large amounts of food are being destroyed, which would have been better if the people benefited from,” said Hamed.

Hamed pointed out that these foods, which arrive either rotten or expired, are considered as aid presented to the Yemeni people.

The spoilage or non-arrival of the food aid is a fault that the organizations bear responsibility for, he added.

He noted that the government concerned authorities had formed investigation committees to review the governmental procedures in this regard, calling on the organizations to do the same and review their policies and procedures in the Republic of Yemen to ensure that this would not happen again.

For his part, the WFP Resident Representative confirmed that “the program takes such observations seriously and will investigate them and the reasons behind.”

Anderson indicated that the program would work to find better mechanisms to ensure aid access to beneficiaries and to make the most of this assistance.

It was agreed during the meeting to form joint working team from both sides to investigate and report about the causes of foodstuffs spoilage within two weeks, and to hold another meeting to examine outputs and results of the team reports.

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