Gov’t terminates all existing school feeding caterers contracts; Kofi Asare lists challenges faced by School Feeding Programme

The government of Ghana has terminated all existing school feeding caterer contracts with immediate effect.

After the news on the contract termination of the school feeding caterers contracts, the Executive Director at EDUWATCH, Mr. Kofi Asare, in a public post, listed the top five (5) challenges the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) is facing for the public to grasp what informed the termination action.

Kofi Asare writes

The Top 5 Challenges facing the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) are:

1. Politicized procurement of caterers
2. Centralized management
3. Poor financing
4. Corruption-ghost schools & ghost pupils
5. Lack of transparency and accountability.

These are the drivers of the poor quality of food you have been seeing.

Now, which of these problems does the cancellation of contracts solve?

Since 2005, all we have done to reform the GSFP is to ensure that whenever a new government arrives, they terminate existing party ladies’ contracts and engage a different group of party ladies to cook for 8 years.

That’s all!
No real commitment to reform that improves food quality, programme management and accountability.

Question:
Beyond terminating contracts, what practical measures have been put in place by the Minister for Gender to ensure the GSFP is managed differently-effectively and efficiently- to address the Top 5 challenges?

Until we change the way we do things, we shouldn’t expect different results.

SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh