Dr Amoako Tuffuor Debunk CJA’s Allegations

The Executive Chairman of Ghana School Feeding Programme, Dr Kwame Amoako Tuffuor has debunked all allegations leveled against him and his outfit by the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) which has to do with the 2006 audit report of the institution compilled by PricewaterHouse Coopers International.

He said the 2006 audit report was not a fraud audit report and does not recommend any sanctions against the officials of the programme, “no official was accused of corruption or embezzlement,” he stressed.

Speaking to journalists in his office here in Accra, yesterday, in reaction to a Press Conference held by the CJA asking for the dismissal of the Executive Chairman of the GSFP.

The CJA was reacting on the 2006 draft audit report of the GSFP which was to identify various institutional gaps in the programme implementation from January to December 2006 and to recommend the appropriate mechanisms and guidelines to streamline the national roll-out of the programme from 2007 to 2010.

Dr Amoako Tuffuor pointed out that the GSFP was not cited as directly manipulated enrolment figures in some districts in the audit report as alleged but what was in the report was rather giving credence to GSFP's position of checking and counter checking enrolment data as presented by the District Assemblies and School Authorities.

According to him no child has been fed with unwholesome food, when the issue of expired tomato paste was brought to the attention of the programme, it was withdrawn from the field.

He noted that when he suspected some unfair deal on the part of some officers and some DCEs he immediately suspended the approval of their cheques.

The Executive Chairman said in all dealings with suppliers in 2006, the national procurement authority was notified but he observed that some cases were not conclusive because of time. He added that the alleged forged signatures are under investigation.

He stressed that contracts were awarded to companies who are legally registered, GSFP he said is not directly responsible or involved in the transfer of funds to the Assemblies. “It is the controller and accountant general's office as the practice is directly responsible,” he added.

However he observed that the economic impact which is fighting poverty of poor villagers, growth of the local food industries and job creation is what we should be looking at.