The Member of Parliament for Asunafo South, Eric Opoku has called on government to save the now-failing Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP).

According to him, the quality of the programme is depreciating because of lack of monitors and delays in release of funds for caterers to ensure the smooth running of the programme.

 “Who is monitoring the programme? How many people have we recruited as monitors and how did they monitor? Because of inefficiency in the monitoring process. Again, because of irregular funding the programme is almost collapsing,” he said.

Mr Opoku further stated that, the quality and quantity of the food given to students who benefit from the programme has been compromised.

“Now if you visit any of the schools and you look at the quality of the food that is served to our children, you be more than worried.

“If you look at the quantity, you will be angry because resources are not being provided. And the caterer is tasked to look for funding on his own. So if the caterer is unable to do that, what do you expect to happen in our schools?”

Speaking on the environmental problem facing the caterers of the school feeding programme, in Parliament, the Minority Spokesperson for Food and Agriculture said “.......you know if you are providing food, you must be concerned about the environment. The environment must be hygienic so you have to provide a befitting kitchen and kitchen tools to enable them to deliver hygienic food for the consumption of our children.

“Unfortunately, some of them prepared the food under trees and when it rains, they have to move to some of the classrooms and in some cases the corridor of the schools. That does not affect only the quality but also the academic performance.”

Mr. Eric Opoku asserted that even though schools are in the third term of the academic calendar, only the first term service has been paid for by the school feeding secretariat.