The 2022 Auditor-General’s report has revealed that GH¢831,776.00 from the sale of application forms for the Ghana School Feeding Programme during the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 academic years has not been accounted for.
The report disclosed that 21,880 application forms were sold at GH¢50 each, totaling GH¢1,094,000.00, but only GH¢262,224.00 was recovered.
A performance audit conducted by the Auditor-General from 2017 to 2022 on the management of the programme showed that the national coordinator’s efforts to recover the remaining GH¢831,776.00 were unsuccessful.
The audit noted that the National Secretariat, through the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), advertised nationwide for prospective caterers to apply for providing services to beneficiary schools.
The report stated: “The MMDCEs sold a total of 21,880 application forms at GH¢50 each, realizing GH¢1,094,000.00 from the sale. However, the National Secretariat recovered only GH¢262,224.00. The remaining amount of GH¢831,776.00 was still outstanding at the time of the audit.”
The national coordinator sought assistance from the Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGD&RD) and the Head of Local Government Services to recover the outstanding amount from the defaulting MMDCEs.
Despite reminders to pay the outstanding amount by August 31, 2022, only six out of 225 MMDCEs had responded by the time of the audit.
