The Ghana School Feeding Programme has developed a policy document which is before Cabinet for approvalMr. Seidu Adamu, the National Coordinator of the Programme, said on Thursday.

The Partnership for Child Development, a non-governmental organization (NGO), sponsored the preparation of the document, he told a Consultative Forum for stakeholders organized by the programme at Sekondi.

Mr. Adamu said the document would be developed into a bill which, when passed into law, would give legal backing to the Programme and any government that comes to power would support it.

He said it was the duty of all political parties to ensure that the Programme survived and no party must cause its collapse.

Mr. Adamu said it had come to light at the district level that some headteachers and caterers colluded and adjusted enrolment figures of schools to attract higher payments and shared the surplus money.

In other cases, caterers did not cook but got paid and appealed to district directors of education to exercise supervision and issue appropriate directives to keep the programme on track, he said.

Mr. Adamu said all stakeholders must show interest in the programme and ensure that the right things were done.

He said the delay in the payment to caterers was due to the state of the economy which had affected the release of funds and appealed to district nutrition officers to help review the menu of schools in their areas.

Mr. Kwame Nuako, Technical Adviser of the Programme, said the programme was not only to feed school children but was also aimed at poverty reduction and boosting domestic food production to ensure food security.

He said the programme started with 65,000 children in 2005 and is now feeding 1.7 million children in 5,000 schools in 216 districts.

Mr. Nuako said about 80 per cent of food used for programme are produced locally and is fully funded by government but receives technical assistance from partners.