Mahama gov’t must be critical of School Feeding – Adwoa Safo laments rot during her tenure as Gender Minister

Former Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has called on the John Mahama-led NDC government to critically scrutinize the School Feeding Programme.

She cited deep-rooted corruption under the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration from where she exercised supervisory functions over the secretariat.

Speaking on Movement Radio, she urged the new government to take urgent steps to clean up the programme, stressing that it has been severely mismanaged in recent years.

“Because of the rot and corruption that goes on over there, this new government must scrutinize activities at the School Feeding Secretariat,” she said.

According to Adwoa Safo, the original intent of the programme under former President John Kufuor was noble, aimed at reducing child hunger and boosting school enrollment.

• Read also: School Feeding: Akufo-Addo ordered audit but distanced himself after backlash over rot I uncovered – Adwoa Safo

However, she lamented that corrupt practices had derailed its purpose, leading to massive financial leakages.

“Former President Kufuor had good intentions when he introduced the programme. But the way it has been manipulated recently is bad,” she noted.

The former Dome-Kwabenya MP revealed that after her appointment as Gender Minister, former President Akufo-Addo directed her to audit the School Feeding Programme to understand how funds were being utilized.

However, her investigations unearthed massive irregularities, particularly in the Central Region.

“I did my audit and sent the report to Cabinet. The majority of the rot came from the Central Region. So I sent my report to the Presidency. After the backlash, President Akufo-Addo said he’s not the one who directed me to do the audit and that I should even shelve it. That is where my problems started,” she disclosed.

• Read also: I was thrown to the backbench like a first-time MP after my removal – Adwoa Safo

Adwoa Safo further alleged that a key official in the programme deliberately ignored multiple invitations for questioning and later accused her of trying to destroy her political connections.

She also revealed a shocking proposal from the same official, who suggested that they collude to add ghost schools to the programme in order to inflate allocation figures and siphon public funds.

Despite the challenges she faced, she maintained that her decision to expose corruption within the programme was based on principle.

When asked whether she had a personal issue with Nana Akufo-Addo, she denied any bad blood, stating:

“He is the one that appointed me. If there comes a time when he says he is no longer interested in it, there isn’t much that I can do.”