Indicted School Feeding Boss cleared

Dr. Kwame Adu-Nsiah, National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) who was accused of financial malfeasance among a litany of allegations and interdicted has been cleared by an investigative committee

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According to the 13-page document exonerating him, the Committee chaired by Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo described allegations by the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Cynthia Morrison as unsubstantiated.

The report reads in part “The
committee chaired by the Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo sat 10 times and
interviewed all key personnel of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP). The
minister was unable to provide any tangible evidence to substantiate the
allegations of widespread malpractices in the GSFP apart from the specific case
of Sekyere East Constituency.”

It
said it interviewed key personnel including the person who was made to act as
head of the GSFP after the interdiction but “no evidence of malpractices was
revealed as alleged against Dr. Kwame Adu-Nsiah.”

“No
such evidence of mismanagement, impropriety or misconduct was established by
our inquiry against the interdicted National Coordinator, Dr. Kwame Adu-Nsiah,”
the report said.

Even
though the committee indicated that it had established acts of duplication,
wrongful payment, error of judgment and mismanagement of the programme in
Sekyere East as reported by the National Security Secretariat, it said those
acts had nothing to do with Dr. Adu-Nsiah.

“We
could not verify reports of impropriety against the district chief executive …
in increasing the number of schools under the programme from 46 to 52, and
recruiting six additional caterers without the approval of the national
coordinator,” it said.

“The
minister and the interdicted national coordinator had poor working relations
that may have been caused by two issues that arose between the two
personalities before the minister’s appointment and assumption of office. It
led to mistrust and lack of confidence on the part of the minister for the
national coordinator,” the report added.

“Dr.
Kwame Adu-Nsiah had good rapport with the senior staff of the secretariat we
met during the inquiry. We found out that the acting national coordinator’s
interdiction was unfortunate and unfair,” according to the report.

It
also said “the GSFP has competent senior staff whose expertise, if well
utilized, may help the leadership to manage the GSFP more effectively.”

The report recommended that Dr.  Adu-Nsiah be reinstated and his entitlements restored.

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Meanwhile, the committee
recommended he be reassigned to another institution within the public sector or
“paying Dr. Kwame Adu-Nsiah a three-month salary in lieu of notice of the termination
of his appointment as national coordinator of the School Feeding Programme in
accordance with public sector conditions of employment and notice of
termination.”

Source:MyNewsGh.com/2020