Kofi Jumah: School Feeding Programme in Ashanti stinks of corruption

Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:12

Written by Nathan Gadugah, myjoyonline.com

The Member of Parliament for Asokwa in the Ashanti Region says he has uncovered dubious and corrupt practices by the Regional coordinator of the School Feeding Programme which is capable of endangering the lives of the school children.

According to Kofi Jumah, the coordinator, Ophelia Bosiako in collusion with a syndicate buys expired products at low prices and resells them at a higher price to the caterers for profit.

“Apparently somebody within the regional administration purchased this in bulk and distributed it to the caterers (of course they paid for it) and some of them actually used them, but they are all expired," he told Joy News' Sammy Darko.

He brought samples of the expired products to Parliament on Tuesday, alleging that the caterers were threatened with an abrogation of contract if they did not buy the products from the syndicate.

He said the discovery was made some three weeks ago and has drawn the attention of the sector minister and the National secretariat for investigations to be conducted.

He further alleged that the programme is being mismanaged and warned the regional coordinator not to attempt a cover up.

Kofi Jumah explained that the coordinators of the school feeding like civil servants are not allowed to buy commodities for sale to caterers and wondered why the Ophelia Bosiako flagrantly violated the law.

But the National Coordinator of the programme Alhaji Sulemana Abdul Rahman says the allegations by the Asokwa MP are unfounded.

He said after a full scale investigation into the matter it was revealed that the regional coordinator facilitated the purchase of the commodities, an action they considered “reprehensible,” but denied that the commodities were stale

According to him, the regional coordinator has been queried for her role in buying the products, adding she would be sacked if she fails to provide convincing explanations why she had to interfere in the purchase of the products.