The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Honorable Adwoa Safo, has indicated that the dismissal of the school feeding program coordinator was an administrative error.
In a letter cited by the Vaultz News,;the Minister who initially dismissed the programme’s coordinator has however reversed the directive.
“This is to inform you of my decision to withdraw my earlier letter dated 18th May, 2021. I wish to state that my earlier letter was as a result of an administrative error. Many thanks.”
Adwoa Safo
It will be recalled that, on May 18, 2021,;the Gender Minister also in a letter dismissed the school feeding coordinator,;Getrude Quashigah, and asked her to hand over to the Chief Director of the Gender Ministry.
The letter which came as a shock to many also left a lot of them question the ministry;as the reason for her dismissal was not stated in the sack letter directed to her.
“This is to inform you of;the termination of your appointment as the National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding programme. You will be paid one month’s salary in lieu of notice as stipulated in your contract agreement.
“Kindly hand over any official document or property in your custody to the Chief Director of the Ministry.”
Adwoa Safo
The dismissal letter further appreciated her support towards the execution of the mandate of the Ghana School Feeding Programme during the period and also wished her well in her endeavours.
Corruption allegations on School Feeding Programme
Prior to this, there were corruption allegations levelled against the National School Feeding Programme. It followed reports of wrongful payment of funds to the tune of GHC 965,000 to caterers in non-existing schools and misappropriation of school feeding fund.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department on the other hand has indicated that it was investigating at least 53 schools over the allegations of corruption in the implementation of the Free SHS feeding programme.
Mrs. Getrude Quashigah officially became the National Coordinator of the School Feeding Programme on December 24, 2019, after taking over from the former coordinator, Dr. Kwame Adu-Nsiah who was also fired.
She had already been serving as an acting coordinator for about a year before she was given the role officially in 2019.
Dr. Adu-Nsiah was suspended in December 2018 over allegations of corruption in the management of the school feeding programme. However, a committee that was set up by the President to probe the issue exonerated him from any wrongdoing.
The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) was initiated in 2005 as a social protection intervention in the context of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Pillar III and in response to the first and second Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Over two decades of implementation, the programme has evolved and periodically, witnessed efforts at improving targeting, quality, monitoring, procurement governance and social accountability.
At present, the programme is providing one hot and adequately nutritious meal to 1,693,698 pupils in 4,881 schools per each school day. The programme has also provided employment to about 20,000 caterers and cooks nationwide.
