Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Hawa Koomson, has disclosed that the delay in presenting the Best Farmer's Award to the deserving recipient is due to investigations regarding the award winner.

46-year-old Alhaji Mohammed Mashud from the Northern region was crowned as the National Best Farmer for 2021 and was to receive a 2-bedroom house.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament, she said, "The reason why we are not done with the building is, he knows very well there was an issue with that award winner, so we took almost 8 months to 1 year to do investigations to make sure the fisher had no problem before we could allow the construction to go on."

On the matter, Minority Spokesperson on Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku, said the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture is now requesting funds to put up the building two years after the award ceremonies.

But according to Hawa Koomson, majority of the work has been done, and some final touches will see it to completion.

"If the ranking member is saying we are left with GHC500,000 to complete it, it means we have done the major part of the work, it is left with some finishing touches."

For Mr Opoku, this was wrong and should not be happening because it shows the country is not committed to rewarding the efforts of her hard-working citizens.