The 17-page annual report established that delay in reimbursement of funds to caterers interrupted regular feeding and strict adherence to menu.

“This is seen to be something that has the tendency to impact school attendance negatively,” SEND-Ghana said in the report.

[contextly_sidebar id=”alWqIlDNNSexVCIX5zAZCz7EPEzLkQ6e”]“Though the policy stipulates daily feeding, averagely the schools were fed only three times in a week,” it added.

The report suggested ways to help sustain and also prevent the financial leakages in the programme.

It indicated that inconsistencies in school enrollment data, provided by directorates, schools and caterers, made it difficult to determine the actual number of pupils that were fed and whether government paid the caterers for their services.

“This situation predisposes the programme to financial leakages,” the report said.

Although adopting the caterers’ model for service provision is a laudable, it said appropriate storage facilities and the quality of food prepared could not be guaranteed having recognized the limited supervision and monitoring by programme officials.

Against this backdrop, the report recommended that effective monitoring of the programme was key to ensuring that the food for the children is nutritious and safe for consumption.

It suggested that authorities make enough resources available for programme monitoring.

“The Ghana Education Service must also step up its monitoring activities and ensure that enrollment data captured by schools and district directorates are consistent with each other as a measure to block possible leakages and engender effective and efficient planning and budgeting,” it said.

Moreover, district desk officers should also be made to liaise with officials during monitoring, the report said.

The report called on the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to collaborate with the Ghana Education Service to ensure that head teachers act as first-line managers or supervisors of the programme to complement the work of zonal coordinators.

Metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies must also make provision in their annual plans and budgets to support monitoring by the school feeding desk officer to complement efforts of zonal coordinators, it added.

“The situation, if not addressed, will impact negatively on attendance and contribute to slowing Ghana’s quest towards the attainments of universal basic education for all children,” it said.

The School Feeding Programme is run by the Secretariat in partnership with international agencies like the World Bank, World Food Programme, Partnership for Child Development, UNICEF and the Canadian International Development Agency.

–

Source: GNA

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His comment is a reaction to the Gender Minister’s response in Parliament to his question on the 30 percent protocol allocation to some persons selected as caterers for the programme.

[contextly_sidebar id=”kE9QdG8Em3Hor5ZZrFaNrPKkmBYN8jWx”]The Minister told Parliament that the allocation is for traditional rulers, disputing concerns that it was a move to reward NPP members.

The MP is of the view that government has done virtually nothing to improve the important social intervention programme.

He threatened to get the Minister hauled back to Parliament to further explain her actions.

“This is a very bad practice. What are you talking about? That you have an allocation of 6,000 caterers to be recruited and you have decided to take 30 percent before you sell forms to the public. What it means is that even the 30 percent we are talking about have not gone through interview so where lies the transparency that we are talking about? The NPP government I can tell you is beginning to suffer from credibility problems and that is something we must check.”

“I may not be able to point to a specific corruption issue, but for me, it is a source of worry and if not checked, it will lead to corruption. To the best of my knowledge, unless you can give me evidence to this, I am not aware of this and even if it happened under the NDC, we must condemn it. It is wrong yesterday and it is wrong today. It should be scrapped” he insisted.

Meanwhile, Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister, Otiko Djaba, maintained that the protocol allocation is for traditional rulers and other eminent community leaders.

Explaining circumstances under which the 30 percent protocol allocation was introduced, Madam Djaba said, “Concerning the 30 percent protocol, it is something that was put in to ensure that traditional rulers and other persons in the communities will be involved.”

In August 2017, it emerged that the Ghana School Feeding Programme had outlined new guidelines for the selection of caterers that is reportedly in clear breach of the Public Procurement Act.

A letter sighted by citifmonline.com had indicated that, 30 percent of schools in each district should be reserved as protocol allocation for the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

The statement had explained that, the directive is “from the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, based on a cabinet decision” and must be complied with by all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives.

We’ll challenge Gov’t’s 30% School Feeding protocol – Minority

The Minority had however threatened to challenge this move, saying it contravenes the laws of the country.

The MP for Sagnarigu, A.B.A Fuseini, pointed out that the move should be resisted.

“I want to serve notice that the Minority will challenge it because we think that it should not be allowed to go, and this is not a charge for only the minority, there is a collective duty on all of us as Ghanaians to get up and oppose this obnoxious policy and make sure the right thing is done.”

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By Marian Ansah & Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The coordinators, who lauded the president for exhibiting commitment to improve the welfare of  women, say the programme is helping to reduce poverty among women particularly  widows, who have been marginalized for far too long.

[contextly_sidebar id=”X2OMrg14lMrxy55jXclsx7wRYKRoGz86″]In a press statement issued by convener for the group, who doubles as the Upper East Regional Coordinator of the GSFP, Mrs. Georgina Ayamga, said the coordinators were poised to achieve the set objectives for the programme.

“The fact that all the ten regional and the sixty-eight zonal coordinators are women and majority of the over six thousand caterers and seventeen thousand cooks are also women, speaks volumes of government’s commitment to empower more women and increase participation in national development and decision making.”

“Some of us who are beneficiaries of the school feeding programme are widows who have to fend for themselves under the strenuous and challenging circumstances, but for this opportunity, our situation could have been worse”. Mrs. Ayamga stated.

She added that, the coordinators are collaborating with agric extension officers in the  various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, to attain the objectives of the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ to boost food security.

Mrs. Ayamga lauded the leadership of the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Djaba, in addressing issues confronting the programme, and pledged their support to ensure she succeeds.

Mrs. Ayamga also added that, sixteen days arrears owed caterers have been released for payment, adding that, government was working assiduously to settle every other arrears.

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By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The group, calling itself the Burma Camp Youth, has not shied away from the media claiming it locked up the offices on Monday, October 16, over what it called unfair allocation of schools in the region to caterers.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Tc8HHij4JpR8qd2Clmk6gWVDJ7oNF4R0″]The group’s Chairman, Mohammed Kamil, in an earlier Citi News interview, accused the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba, of hijacking the allocation exercise.

No complaints, no arrest

But no arrest has been made thus far, despite the brazen attack on a state institution, and the Northern Regional Police PRO, ASP Yussif Tanko, explained on Eyewitness News that, this was also because no official complaint had been made.

ASP Tanko stressed that, such an act should be considered lawless, but “as we speak now, nobody has reported any case, saying somebody has gone to the office, locked them out of the office and kept the keys in his pocket. We haven’t received any such complaint.”

In his view, “if what happened is something that is a security threat to them or if what happened is true, I think they would come to our office and made a complaint to us.”

Despite the coverage on Citi FM and other media outlets of the raid, ASP Tanko said: “you cannot [assume] that anybody in our regional command has listened into your network has heard what happened there.”

Staff should have reported incident

He further questioned why the staff of the school feeding offices had not made any report, saying “I wonder why you are not calling them and asking them why this thing has happened and they have failed to report the issue to the police.”

Investigations into the incident are yet to begin as in the meantime, ASP Tanko said what his outfit would do, is to “find out from authorities if such a thing [the raid] has happened.”

“…secondly, why they have not reported the matter to police. And if it is confirmed that it has happened, then we will ask them if they knew the person who did that and then we will take it from there,” he added.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The money, which was released last week, will cover the first seven days for the first term of the 2016/2017 academic year.

[contextly_sidebar id=”qhWVoSfmvtBymFc31YWEdnfZB5lGGX3D”]Speaking to Citi News, the Public Relations Officer for Programme, Siba Alfa, also said efforts are being made to make another disbursement next week, to cover an additional sixteen days of the remaining hundred days’ arrears.

“Last week Thursday and Friday, we released seven days of feeding grant to the caterers. The seven days represents part of payment for the first term of 2017/2017 academic year, and we are hoping to make another payment next week Friday, which will be for 16 days, but afterward, we will request for additional funds to be able to clear all the arrears that we owe the caterers,“ he said.

Mr. Alfa explained that, in all, the programme has advanced more than 100 days of feeding grants to caterers so far in 2017, which amounts to GHc 140 million.

He said a request has been made to the Minister of Finance for funds to clear all the arrears.

Protests from caterers

In May, scores of caterers under the school feeding programme besieged the premises of the Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection, demanding the payment of their arrears.

Some of the caterers said they had not been paid for more than 8 months.

At the time, the National School Feeding Secretariat said it would pay the debt by the end of May.

Payment of the arrears has been seen to be filtering in to the caterers with the government recently releasing GHc 10 million to them.

The Ghana School Feeding Programme has been ongoing since 2005, under the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme Pillar III, in response to the first and second Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, and achieving universal primary education.

The basic idea of the program has been to provide pupils in public basic schools with one hot nutritious meal every day.

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By: Farida Yusuf/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The group on Monday October 16, 2017, chased out the Regional Coordinator and staff, and locked up the offices over  what they call unfair allocation of schools in the region to caterers.

The group’s Chairman, Mohammed Kamil, in a Citi News interview, accused the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba, of hijacking the allocation exercise.

He posited that, she allocated five schools each to her cronies, and also designated them as monitors.

This, according to Mohammed Kamil, has created tension in the region, hence the group’s action.

He served notice that, the group will not back-down until the allocations are reversed to cater for other applicants.

“A lot of people in the party have issues with the school feeding programme especially how it was distributed in the region. We heard that most of them are beneficiaries as well as monitors. One person can have about six schools to supply food or to feed, and there are other party members who have nothing, and that is why  we came out and locked up the place.”

“…So there is no way we can sit down and fold our hands, and allow such things to continue. We are going to keep the office locked until our purpose is served.”

Mohammed Kamil fumed, saying,”Our purpose is that, they should redistribute the school feeding programme so that no one should be a beneficiary and at the same time a monitor.”

The school feeding programme is largely used as an avenue to reward party cronies.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Concerns have been raised about the quality of meals being served over one million and seven thousand pupils who are entitled to one hot meal per day under the programme.

[contextly_sidebar id=”vdF961ea4UbyIxbcghCqQQeBUCYVU9BW”]The Public Relations Officer for the Secretariat, Alba Siba, however insisted on the Citi Breakfast Show that caterers under the programme are constantly monitored to ensure they strictly adhere to laid down procedures in preparing these meals.

Mr. Siba also indicated that, caterers are intermittently trained to deliver quality meals.

“As I even indicated, we have given them some brief orientation because these are new caterers who have taken over. It is an ongoing activity, and as and when we think there is the need for them to get orientation, then we give them. And besides that too, we have a nutrition department at the school feeding programme that collaborates with other nutrition departments in the various districts so they together do the menu according to what the District potential is in terms of food items. We do all these things to ensure that the caterer is constantly monitored because we know that for some of the caterers, if we do not monitor them, they can cut corners.”

Meanwhile, a coalition responsible for monitoring basic education across the country, Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition, says it has drawn the attention of the Education Ministry to some daunting challenges confronting the implementation of the free SHS policy.

Citi News‘ assessment of the policy on Thursday, revealed that some students at the La Presec were studying on concrete blocks.

Students at the Kwabenya Senior High School were also served meals without protein.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, the Coordinator of the Coalition, Veronica Dzeago, said although her outfit is yet to begin any formal monitoring, reports indicate that adequate preparation has not been made.

“As a Coalition, we have not started any monitoring, but we have received reports from sources on the ground and the report concerning the issue we raised about the system not being prepared enough to deal with the enrollment that was going to come with the roll-out of the free SHS policy, so what you saw is a confirmation of what is really happening on the ground.”

“We have also received reports from various parts of the country that there are challenges. The discussions have been ongoing and we have had the opportunity to speak to the key people from the Ministry of Education and we have put the issues before them, and we have been given the assurance that plans are in place to address the issues we identified.”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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“I want to serve notice that the Minority will challenge it because we think that it should not be allowed to go and this is not a charge for only the minority,” the MP for Sagnarigu, A.B.A Fuseini said on Eyewitness News.

He viewed this directive from the government as not being conformity to the laws of this country and “there is a collective duty on all of us as Ghanaians to get up and oppose this obnoxious policy and make sure the right thing is done.”

“The country does not belong to NPP people alone. It belongs to all people and we all have the right to apply for any job anywere… it should not be reserved for particular people because they are members of a political party. it is unacceptable.”

No incompetent caterers

Also at stake is the physical well-being of the school children, according to Mr. Fuseini, and the government should not be compromising on the quality of the caterers.

“We are talking about food, something very important in the lives of our children. You can’t have very bad and unhygienic incompetent caterers and they will compromise the lives of our children.”

“…this is a thing they are awarding to NPP [members] without even having the opportunity to take them throughout a rigorous process where they can be screened and on the basis of competence, we award it to the best people who can do the best job.”

The new guidelines for the selection of caterers will take effect from the 2017/2018 academic year which begins September in 2017.

The Gender Ministry also charged the MMDCEs to also engage more women activists, women executives, queen-mothers among others as caterers for the programme.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We’ll challenge Govt’s 30% School Feeding protocol – Minority appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The School Feeding Programme has earmarked 30 percent of the schools in each district as a protocol allocation for the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, according to a letter sighted by citifmonline.com.

[contextly_sidebar id=”hBOGLNSqZZ4Dlc0miIovbULxF5ElnUx9″]Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Fuseini said: “this is a situation where they want to just carve out some jobs and leave them for only NPP members and sympathisers and supporters.”

He asserted that this allocation was a violation of the constitution of the republic and “a violation of the oath President Nana Akufo-Addo swore at the Independence Square at his induction ceremony, that he was going to treat all Ghanaians fairly.”

The President had a duty to ensure that nobody was discriminated on the grounds of political party colours, according to the opposition National Democratic Congress MP, but, “today this is being violated in his face.”

He explained that the NPP government has been harassed because of its “empty promises” to create jobs and “has come under severe pressure from members of its own ranks.”

Though the document makes no mention of NPP supporters, he insisted that section making references to women activists pertained to NPP members.

The Gender Ministry charged the MMDCEs to engage more women activists, women executives, queen-mothers among others as caterers for the programme in the letter.

“The NPP has been on a vindictive campaign across the country to depopulate state institutions of people who they could not certify were NPP members,” Mr. Fusseini stated.

“Why would they sack all currently existing caterers under the school feeding programme? If they intended to stretch their hands to Ghanaians as a whole you would have left that 30 percent who are in place and fill in the rest. They want to depopulate the entire sector and bring in NPP members. Obviously, they cannot just spell it in black and white that the activists should be NPP but it is unmistaken.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to a letter sighted by citifmonline.com, 30 percent of schools in each district should be reserved as protocol allocation for the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

[contextly_sidebar id=”mabf8bQAtHfL9UzYyfT0puK63LeNhaFl”]The directive according to the statement is “from the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, based on a cabinet decision” and must be complied with by all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives.

The directive per the statement signed by William Charles Quao, Acting National Coordinator for the School Feeding programme, will take effect from the 2017/2018 academic year which begins next month [September].

The Gender Ministry also charged the MMDCEs to also engage more women activists, women executives, queen-mothers among others as caterers for the programme.

“30 percent of the schools in the district should be reserved for protocol from the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection…The Final selection form the district which excludes the 30% protocol should include strong women activists, female opinion leaders, other women executives, queen-mothers and members of women groups,” the statement added.

The statement also made the following directive:

A panel, under the chairmanship of the MMDCE, comprising the following members below, is to be set up immediately;

• An educationist
• A health practitioner
• A caterer nominated by the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection
• Two women opinion leaders
• One of the members should be selected as a secretary.

Forms should be sold at the stipulated cost of GHc50.00 and accounted to MMDCEs by 9/8/17.

We’ll settle school feeding arrears soon

The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisah Djaba earlier said government had allocated GHc114 million to offset all arrears owed caterers under the school feeding programme.

“Concerning the caterers’ arrears…the NPP government has made provision for GHC114 million to pay the arrears, also for this year, GHC200 million has been set aside for the school feeding programme…So for caterers that we owe, government will certainly pay you; but it will not be immediate because the processes have to go through. So I am pleading to all caterers we owe that, the processes have started; and we will work on it as soon as possible to ensure that, those who did not cook for the 75 days we will deduct your monies and those who cooked throughout the 75 days, we will pay off your arrears. we are doing this to ensure value for money,” she added.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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