SIPHONING IN CHILDREN'S NAME CRIMINAL

ONE of the major steps taken by the government to provide access for children of school age is the introduction of the Ghana School Feeding Programme.
The essence of the programme is to provide one hot and nutritious meal for every child of school age in some selected schools throughout the country.
At the last count, there were 975 beneficiary schools in the country and until recently when the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) raised the red flag about goings on in the programme, many people thought all was well with it.
Forensic audit of the programme by PriceWaterhouse Coopers showed widespread malfeasance in the management of the programme.
Although the spin that was put on the report was worrying, it is essential for the government to address the queries raised in the audit report in order to maintain the integrity of the programme.
The Daily Graphic believes that those put in charge of this laudable programme should not be allowed to “chop in the name of our children”.
They must be made to account for every pesewa that otherwise would have nourished the brains of our schoolchildren to pursue their academic ambitions to become responsible adults in future.
Hunger, it is said, is a serious business and those who come from deprived homes know that it is not easy to study on empty stomachs.
Therefore, those who are not ashamed to extend their greed even to funds that are allocated for the feeding of innocent children must be made to face the full rigours of the law.
We will make corruption attractive by our failure to deal decisively with those who want shortcuts to life, instead of sweating hard to make a living.
For this reason, the Daily Graphic urges all stakeholders to support the Auditor General in his efforts to purge the school feeding programme of malfeasance.
While it should be made unattractive for those in charge of the programme to pocket the taxpayers’ money, the system should also be streamlined in such a way that the meals served the schoolchildren are wholesome.
The cooks and all those who have something to do with the meals must be paid regularly so that they can give of their best to sustain the programme.
The Daily Graphic calls on the government to be swift in dealing with officials who are bent on derailing the programme for personal gain so that it can be extended to all schools in the country.
Halfway into the implementation of activities under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), nothing should be made to stand in our march towards achieving our objectives by the year 2015.
Access to education by all children of school age is one of such key factors, and since retaining children in our schools has been one of the big challenges, the feeding programme is meant to attract children into the classrooms and motivate them to remain in school.
The Daily Graphic salutes the Auditor General for his latest initiative to sanitise the School Feeding Programme and we urge him not to relent in his efforts to put the programme on track.
However, the Auditor General's Office should not limit the forensic audit to the school feeding programme alone but extend it to all initiatives that the government is spending the taxpayers’ money on, so that the country can have value for money.