School feeding boss sacked

The National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), Sulemana Abdul-Rahaman, has been dismissed, barely six months in office, for alleged acts of impropriety.

The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Joseph Yieleh Chireh, confirmed this to the Times on phone Wednesday, but declined to comment further.

A source at the GSFP told the Times yesterday that Mr Abdul-Rahaman was asked on Monday to hand over his schedule to his deputy and vacate the place within 24 hours.

The source said Mr Abdul-Rahaman was accused of impropriety, a conduct that had incurred the displeasure of the Dutch government and other co-funders of the programme.

“Mr Abdul-Rahaman was running the programme without recourse to laid down rules and regulations governing the operation of the programme," it said.

When contacted on phone, Mr Abdul-Rahaman would not confirm whether or not he has been removed from office.

He told the Times that it was the President who appointed him, adding "I have not heard from the President, I am waiting to hear from him".

Mr Abdul-Rahaman succeeded Michael Nsowah, who was removed from office as the National Coordinator last October.

The administration of the GSFP had been plagued with numerous problems leading to the removal from office of the first Executive Director, Dr Kwame Amoako-Tuffuor, two years ago.

The removal of Dr Amoako-Tuffuor followed an Auditor-General's report that cited gross mismanagement and "impropriety" in the operations of the programme.

The Dutch government withdrew its support for the programme following the adverse findings made against the operations of the programme and demanded for the good governance as a prerequisite for the restoration of the support.

Mr Nsowah was consequently appointed in 2007 to oversee the restructuring of the programme to ensure good governance and transparency in its operations.

The Dutch government resumed support for the programme last year.

Under the GSFP, school children in deprived communities across the country are offered one hot meal a day in school as a way to encourage