Accra, April 7, GNA - Dr. Kwame Amoako Tuffuor, Executive Director of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), on Monday said it was mischievous for the Committee of Joint Action (CJA) to rely on a draft audit report carried on the programme and make it public as the reality. He said that draft audit report carried out by the Pricewaterhousecoopers in November 2007 was full of discrepancies most of which had been corrected in the final audit report of March 2008. "A draft report meant to be subjected to further investigations should be confidential as such no one works with a draft. It is therefore highly mischievous for Kwasi Pratt (of the CJA) and co. for not using the real copy of the audit report," Dr Tuffuor said in reaction to allegations of mismanagement of the Programme by the CJA. "Contrary to the position of the CJA, the 2006 audit report was not a forensic/fraud audit and no section of the report recommended sanctions against any official of the programme," he explained at a media briefing in Accra.

The Executive Chairman said Pricewaterhousecoopers came in to do the auditing to express an opinion and identify various institutional gaps in the programme's implementation pilot phase from January to December 2006 and to recommend the appropriate mechanisms and guidelines to streamline the national rollout of the programme from 2007 to 2010. He admitted that the programme had its teething problems and that there was still a search for qualified people to help man the programme. However, it was being managed by competent people.

On further queries by CJA about funds not received some districts, Dr Tuffuor indicated that GSFP, as a government unit, was not directly responsible in the transfer of funds to assemblies and that it was the Controller and Accountant General's office that was responsible for that.

As such, upon complaints from assemblies on funds not received, GSFP followed up at the Controller and Accountant General's Department to help address the anomalies. He said a letter the GSFP wrote dated April 30, 2007 copied to the Sector Minster, National Security and BNI Director showed faith by reporting possible fraud to the Auditor General long before Pricewaterhousecoopers came in. Upon discussions with the auditors during the audit exercise, it was made known that the said funds were indeed properly transferred and received later in 2007 by the assemblies. "It was therefore surprising that auditors still went ahead and included this in the report as funds not received." On the award of contract to non-existing companies, Dr Tuffuor explained that the companies involved were legally registered and that it was indicated as such in the audit report and the GSFP accounts had documents to show but they were never asked for by the auditors. "We are therefore surprised that what the auditor did not ask for has been captured in the report."

He said most of the companies involved were virgin companies because the secretariat believed in growing virgin companies as a policy of the government in the sense that some of the kitchen inputs were household items that gave a chance to virgin companies to supply competitively, adding that all these companies were dully registered between 2005 and 2006 before there were engaged by GSFP.

On the issuance of similar VAT invoice number to two different companies, Dr Tuffuor said, that problem occurred only once among the many VAT receipts and upon cross-checking with the Programme's accountant, it was realised that the action was taken without any malice but its intent was to make the company pay VAT to the government. He said the accountant also showed and explained to the auditors that every payment had VAT receipts and the matter of forged signatures of the executive chairman was also under investigation. On inappropriate award of contracts, Dr Tuffuor explained that in all dealings with suppliers in 2006, the National Procurement Authority (NPA) was notified but in some cases not conclusively because the programme was time bound.

He said over 300 schools in 2006 were awaiting for supplies of kitchen inputs without delay so the secretariat opted for other methods as sole sourcing which the Procurement Act allowed. Thus, the entire list was sent to the NPA and District Chief Executives in all 138 districts were informed to help get suppliers. He said he had already written to the Minister of National Security on funny deals and possible collusion between some of the programme's officers and DCEs who were responsible for inserting names of schools on the lists and that, the GSFP was not cited as having directly manipulated enrolment figures in some districts in the audit report. "What was raised in the audit report rather gave credence to GSFP's position of checking and counter-checking enrolment data as presented by district assemblies and school authorities." On unwholesome food provided to children, Dr Tuffuor said no child had been fed with unwholesome food and that when the issue of expired tomato paste was brought to his attention, he asked and ensured that the product was withdrawn from the field and that payments were not made for the spoilt product, after which the contract with the local company, Afrique Link, was abrogated. "Those children being fed are precious to me and anybody who plays with their future would not be tolerated. They remind me so much of my childhood days when I used to go hungry. We will not feed them with spoilt food," Dr Tuffuor stressed.