Poor citizens in Daqahlia discovered that the rice supplies they were donated have expired. The rice was distributed as part of an initiative by the governor, Samir Salam, aiming to provide extra support for families in priority need of care.
Salam had decided to provide one kilo of subsidized meat and one kilo of rice to each family. The governorate sold the commodities at consumer cooperatives. It was intended that they would be bought through coupons worth LE14 for each kilo of beef, and LE10 for a single chicken.
Al-Masry Al-Youm’s reporter shared the experience of standing in line front of a consumer cooperative in the city of Talkha, registered under number 1064\1990, to obtain food donations. The suffering started with the wangling to get a coupon. The reporter finally managed to obtain a coupon with a code number written on it as well as the location of the compound. Scores of poor citizens lined up for four hours waiting to receive their donation. The reporter eventually managed to leave with one kilo of frozen meat costing LE14, as well as one kilo of rice for free. Surprisingly, the rice was found to be past its expiry date: the rice had been produced in June 2008, and on the bag it was written that the rice would expire after just one year.
Al-Masry Al-Youm informed the supplies investigation department, who seized the remaining quantities of rice. Distribution stopped after 20 tons had already been given out.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
