The smiles of politicians, who branded free ‘hot meal’ with campaign posters, will soon fade as the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has disclosed they will by all means be sanctioned.
Speaking for the Ministry, National Coordinator, School Feeding Programme, Gertrude Kwashiga, said their attention had been drawn to only one instance of a New Patriotic Party candidate in Tamale.
Madam Kwashiga insists the error was not from her team, adding that she was unaware how the party members got hold of the meals.
She explained the programme is meant for pupils who are below 18 years old, and are ineligible to vote so the idea of political branding is unacceptable.
To correct their flaws, she said the attention of the Advisory and Sanctions Body of the Ministry has been drawn.
“We will bring them to book; we have called and spoken to them. We have Advisory Body. They have been called and reports have been forwarded to the Ministry of Gender,” she assured.
Her explanation and assurance follow some complaints made by Executive Director of the Ghana National Council of Private Schools, Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah, who condemned the action.
The monies for the ‘hot meal’, Mr Gyetuah said, do not come from individual pockets but from the Free Feeding Programme Policy, hence no one should be allowed to pick political points.
That notwithstanding, he scored the programme 45% for good idea, but poor implementation, alleging there is inequality in food distribution.
“Our checks reveal some private schools were left out of the feeding programme because the caterers claimed they were not given ingredients but at the same time public schools were benefiting from the agenda. I think it will be better to give the monies to households to prepare food for their kids to bring all these matters to rest,” he said.