SCHOOL FEEDING AUDITING MUST BE THOROUGH

THE World Food Programme (WFP) states that for a hungry child, going to school is not important. What is important is having food to eat, and enough too.
This is a truism that everybody associates with, for every adult has been a child before.
A hungry child does not only show disinterest in going to school but also disdain for everything else, even in frolicking, which is so common with children and keeps them happy and strong.
In 2005, the government launched the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) for public primary schools and kindergartens in the poorest areas, providing the pupils with one hot nutritious meal per day, using locally grown foodstuffs.
According to officials of the programme, about 900,000 schoolchildren were benefiting from the programme as of January 2007
The GSFP has since been hailed by all as a good intervention and, indeed, just a year after its introduction, school enrolment is said to have increased dramatically.
Because locally produced food items form the major component of the meals served, produce of farmers in the respective communities now have a ready market.
Besides, the cooks are employed from the community, hence ready jobs now await community members who are interested and qualified.
But, not so long ago, the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) made public the findings of an audit carried out by PriceWaterhouse Coopers, an accounting and auditing firm which revealed instances of corruption, stealing and maladministration in the programme.
In fact, in July 2007, the former Executive Chairman of the programme, Dr Kwame Amoako-Tuffuor, himself had warned self-seekers whose avowed aim was to siphon resources meant for the feeding of schoolchildren to desist from that selfish act.
Some District Chief Executives, Members of Parliament and local monitoring groups were reportedly conniving and using the names of some caterers to collect money and using it for purposes other than the intended one.
There have been bitter recriminations among the CJA, other stakeholders and Dr Amoako-Tuffuor since PriceWaterhouse Coopers came out with its audit findings imputing corruption and maladministration to the programme. Since then, Dr Amoako-Tuffuor has been relieved of his post.
It is in light of these that we are happy that the Ghana Audit Service has begun a nation-wide audit of the school feeding programme. (See story on Pages 24 and 49.)
The exercise is supposed to cover the activities of the programme at all the 975 beneficiary schools, the national secretariat, the national warehouse and the project office at the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment from the 2006 and 2007 financial years.
We pray that the Audit Service will undertake this national exercise with all the thoroughness that is needed so that all the grey areas — be they financial, administrative, operational, etc — will be smoothened out for the programme to continue and subsequently cover all schools and achieve its noble objectives.
The exercise should be devoid of any partisan politicisation, as we are wont to do of late in this country.