Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the acting spokesperson for President John Dramani Mahama, has assured that the government will implement adequate measures to address food shortages under the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme.
This follows the release of GHS 200 million to tackle the feeding shortfalls two weeks ago.
Poor Planning Led to Food Crisis
Speaking on Channel One Newsroom on Sunday, January 2, Kwakye Ofosu blamed the previous administration for poor planning and implementation of the Free SHS policy, which resulted in schools reopening without adequate food supplies.
“Because of poor planning and poor implementation of the education policy, we had a situation where schools were going to be opened and yet there was no food available to feed the students,” he stated.
He explained that headmasters had requested a postponement of reopening to allow for food supplies, but their request was ignored, leading to a food crisis in schools.
Mahama’s Intervention
Kwakye Ofosu revealed that upon assuming office, President Mahama acted swiftlyby ordering the immediate evacuation of food to schools and authorizing the release of GHS 200 million through the Ghana Education Service (GES) to enable schools to procure food for students.
“Within a few days, President Mahama took decisive action and ordered that food be evacuated to the schools. In addition to that, GHS 200 million was released to the various schools through the Ghana Education Service to procure food for the students,” he added.
Sustainable Measures Moving Forward
Looking ahead, Kwakye Ofosu assured that adequate measures will be put in place to prevent future food shortages, ensuring that students do not experience hunger while in school.
“Going forward, adequate measures will be put in place to ensure that we have enough food to feed the students,” he concluded.
