The Adjaben magistrate court has fined two bar operators GHS 1,200 each for selling 'akpeteshie', a local gin which had been adulterated with mahogany without authorisation.

They were also fined for selling expired drinks to the public.

The two, Patrick Djangel and Theodora Kpakpo, were convicted on their own plea and also charged for operating a drinking bar with uncertified staff contrary to Section 9 of the Assembly's 2017 Food Safety and Hygiene by-laws which mandate all food sellers to undergo screening by accredited service providers for the issuance of valid health certificates.

According to the prosecution, a team of environmental and public health officers from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) who were on a routine inspection, visited the bars and, in the course of their duties, found the fortified alcoholic beverage and expired drinks (Eagle Lager Beer) that had been put on sale.

The prosecution told the court presided over by His Worship Isaac Addo that both of the suspects would have served a three-month jail term had they defaulted in paying the fine, adding that both offenders operated from Chorkor a suburb of Accra.

The Head of the Public Health Department of the Assembly, Florence Kuukyi, in an interview said the provisions of the Liquor Licensing Act, 1970 (Act 331) of Ghana prohibit the sale of any alcoholic beverage without adhering to the dictates of the law.


Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com/91.3FM