I 'diverted' School Feeding contracts; Ashanti Regional Minister received 3 – Subin MP

In a blatant show of force, Member of Parliament for Subin Constituency, Eugene Boakye Antwi, has claimed that he would not succumb to the dictate of any government official in the award of school feeding contract in his constituency.

As he huffed and puffed, the MP who doubles as the Deputy Works and Housing Minister, said he has absolute powers in determining who wins school feeding contracts in his constituency.

“School feeding contracts are strictly reserved for NPP women, and in the Subin Constituency, nobody sidesteps me to award any contracts,’’ the MP angrily made the point in an interview with Kumasi based Hello FM.

According to him, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah was handed three contracts to be given to caterers with links to the ruling party.

Interestingly, the embattled legislator who has been tipped by political watchers to lose his seat in 2020, believes that it is only his favorites who ought to be given a bite of the cherry.

The controversial lawmaker frequently boasted of how he made sure that non-party members and people within the party he thought were secretly working against him were marginalized in the award process.

The MP’s ridiculous outburst was in response to media reports that he had physically assaulted a woman who had sent food to a T.I. Ahmadiyya JHS in his constituency.

But Mr Boakye Antwi’s admission of doling out school feeding contracts without recourse to the National School Feeding Secretariat has raised questions over the validity of his actions.

Some have questioned if it is permissible for a minister or politicians to arrogate to themselves the powers of awarding contract to caterers when there is a designated office to carry out such duties.

‘’I personally handed the contracts to caterers I know. If you are not a member of the NPP or not in my good books forget about school feeding contract and the fact is, I did not know the said women,’’ the minister averred.

He explained that the NPP upon assumption of office in 2017 decided to hand over the award of school feeding contracts to their various MPs despite the existence of a National School Feeding Secretariat.