Nsowah-Mensah: Do not sabotage School Feeding Programme

Accra, Aug. 21, GNA - Mr Michael Nsowah-Mensah, Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), on Thursday warned that government would not tolerate civil servants who were bent on sabotaging the programme.

"I want to send a warning to all districts where delay in disbursement and corrupt practices are prevalent that we will soon take the responsibility from them and disburse directly at the secretariat until they are 'ready'", he added.

Mr Nsowah-Mensah gave the warning when he met caterers working under programme in the Greater Accra Region to discuss some basic challenges facing the programme.

He said there was no need for any caterer to pay money to district directors or accountants who managed the finances at the local level and urged the caterers to open a "School Feeding Account" for direct transfer of money.

Mr Nsowah-Mensah said the programme was still at the pilot phase and in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals on education there was the need for proper planning to ensure the success of the programme as well as realizing the goal. He therefore called for effective teacher-caterer collaboration to help in planning and costing of cooking ingredients to promote transparency.

Mrs Juliana Woode, spokesperson for the group, called for prompt settlement of any outstanding debt to enable them to clear off their debts. She also requested for advance payment to make them plan properly.

Mr Ebenezer Kofi Essel, Acting Head, Food Inspectorate Department, said the department, in collaboration with the secretariat would come out with a code of ethics to guide service providers and called on them to purchase ingredients from the right sources to avoid contamination.