NPP government losing credibility – NDC MP

The Member of Parliament for Bole-Bamboi, Yusif Sulemana, has said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, is fast losing credibility in how it is managing the country.

The NDC MP’s comment was triggered by the government’s of the Ghana School Feeding Programme.

His comment is a reaction to the Gender Minister’s response in Parliament to his question on the 30 percent protocol allocation to some persons selected as caterers for the programme.

The Minister told Parliament that the allocation is for traditional rulers, disputing concerns that it was a move to reward NPP members.

The MP is of the view that government has done virtually nothing to improve the important social intervention programme.

He threatened to cause the Minister to be hauled back to Parliament to further explain her actions.

“This is a very bad practice. What are you talking about? That you have an allocation of 6,000 caterers to be recruited and you have decided to take 30 percent before you sell forms to the public. What it means is that, even the 30 percent we are talking about have not gone through interview so where lies the transparency that we are talking about? The NPP government I can tell you is beginning to suffer from credibility problems and that is something we must check.”

“I may not be able to point to a specific corruption issue, but for me, it is a source of worry and if not checked, it will lead to corruption. To the best of my knowledge, unless you can give me evidence to this, I am not aware of this and even if it happened under the NDC, we must condemn it. It is wrong yesterday and it is wrong today. It should be scrapped” he insisted.

Meanwhile, Gender, Children, and Social Protection Minister, Otiko Djaba, maintains the protocol allocation is for traditional rulers and other eminent community leaders.

Explaining circumstances under which the 30 percent protocol allocation was introduced, Madam Djaba said, “Concerning the 30 percent protocol, it is something that was put in to ensure that traditional rulers and other persons in the communities will be involved.”

In August 2017, it emerged that the Ghana School Feeding Programme had outlined new guidelines for the selection of caterers that is reportedly in clear breach of the Public Procurement Act.

A letter sighted by citifmonline.com had indicated that, 30 percent of schools in each district should be reserved as protocol allocation for the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

The statement had explained that, the directive is “from the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, based on a cabinet decision” and must be complied with by all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives.

We’ll challenge Gov’t’s 30% School Feeding protocol – Minority

The Minority had however threatened to challenge this move, saying it contravened the laws of the country.

The MP for Sagnarigu, A.B.A Fuseini, pointed out that the move should be resisted.

“I want to serve notice that the Minority will challenge it because we think that it should not be allowed to go, and this is not a charge for only the minority, there is a collective duty on all of us as Ghanaians to get up and oppose this obnoxious policy and make sure the right thing is done.”