Former Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection Adwoa Safo has raised serious concerns about corruption and mismanagement in Ghana’s school feeding programme, which is designed to provide meals for students in public institutions.
In an interview, the former Member of Parliament (MP) for Dome-Kwabenya urged President John Dramani Mahama’s government to prioritise necessary reforms, stressing that unchecked corruption threatens the programme’s survival.
Reflecting on her time in office, Safo shared that former President Nana Akufo-Addo had tasked her with auditing the school feeding programme before any funds could be released for her ministry’s operations.
However, after she submitted her audit findings to the cabinet, the president allegedly retreated from his directive under pressure from certain government officials.
“The rot and the corruption that is going on at the school feeding sector is serious. This government should pay attention to that sector. Former President John Agyekum Kufuor had a great vision around the school feeding programme, but the way it has been twisted is a serious matter,” she said.
She further detailed the challenges she faced in her attempt to investigate financial mismanagement in the programme.
“When I was appointed as the Gender Minister, President Akufo-Addo asked me to conduct an audit of the school feeding programme before I would be granted revenue to operate. What was all the money allocated to the programme being used for? I would call this woman—a key official in the programme—once, twice, even three times, and she wouldn’t respond. Instead, she would send a message saying she wasn’t happy with how I was handling her because she had connections in the government and at higher authorities,” she alleged in an interview on Wontumi TV.
She noted that most of the financial discrepancies were linked to the Central Region and accused members of the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration of attempting to obscure the corruption issues, adding that her audit findings were dismissed by the President.
“The majority of the rot was coming from the Central Region. The backlash that followed my submission of the audit report made President Akufo-Addo deny that he had asked me to conduct it. He told me to set it aside, and that’s where my problems began,” she remarked.
Her claims have reignited calls for greater transparency and accountability in the management of the school feeding programme, which has long been scrutinised for financial mismanagement and operational inadequacies.