School Feeding Secretariat to sanction caterers who fail to cook for pupils

The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) has warned that it would sanction caterers who refuse to cook for school children.

According to the Head of Public Relations of the programme, Siiba Alfa, it has received a series of reports affirming that some caterers in some schools across the country have not been cooking for the pupils for many days.

Such conduct, she said, amounts to a violation of the contract agreement between the caterers and the GSFP.

In a statement issued on Friday, August 6, 2021, and copied to The Ghana Report, Ms Alfa said, “it must be stated that caterers who have refused to cook for the children would suffer deductions in their payment for all the non-cooking days.”

She reminded the caterers that, per the contract agreement, they were supposed to pre-finance the cooking services for a whole term or more.

“We, therefore, urge our caterers to strictly adhere to their contractual obligations with the Ghana School Feeding Programme,” insisted.

Meanwhile, GSFP has commended all caterers of the programme nationwide for their patience over the delay in the payment of their first term arrears.

The GSFP also applauded caterers for “dedication towards their obligation of providing daily meal for our school children across the 260 districts.”

The caterers have been assured that the processes leading to the first term payment of their arrears have advanced, and “we would settle them as soon as possible,” the statement issued by GSFP indicated.

About the Ghana School Feeding Programme

The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) is an initiative of the comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) pillar three.

The programme seeks to enhance food security and reduce hunger in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs) on hunger, poverty and malnutrition.

It is also aimed at increasing school enrolment, attendance and retention at the basic level of education.

The programme, which started in 2005, has an oversight implementation from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP).

The programme provides children in public primary schools with one hot, nutritious meal, prepared from locally grown foodstuffs, on every school-going day.

This is to ensure that 80% of the feeding cost is spent in the local economy.

School Feeding Programme cited for irregularities

In August 2019, the Auditor-General cited a number of financial irregularities in running the GSFP among a number of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the country.

The report, which covered the 2018 financial year, pointed out that an amount of GH¢899,617 could not be accounted for by 81 MMDAs in the sale of 21,880 pieces of catering application forms which cost GH¢1,094,000.

The report also observed a payment of GH¢1,100,000.00 made to Dalex Finance Company vide Cheque No 24292 of 27/03/2017 was not substantiated with the payment voucher and other supporting documents.

This was contrary to Regulation 1 of the Financial Administration Regulations 2004.

Also, the audit disclosed that management failed to substantiate five payments totalling GH¢1,368,348.00 with the requisite documentations like distribution list, the contract document, invoices, attendance sheet and list of beneficiaries.

In view of management’s failure to substantiate the total payment of GH¢1,368,348.00, the expenditure was disallowed and requested management to refund the same failure of which they would be surcharged.

READ ALSO: Gender Minister Initiates Reforms To Sanitize School Feeding Programme

The then Minister for MoGCSP, Cynthia Mamle Morrison, quickly instituted some drastic measures that were aimed at sanitising the system.

Primarily, she directed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) to carry out nationwide comprehensive verification and validation exercise of all service providers in the GSFP system.

The report was to aid in the cleaning of the system and to help in updating the ministry’s records for credible payments.