The Public Relations Officer of the School Feeding Programme (SFP) has dismissed allegations that about 510 'ghost schools' across the country are being paid.

According to Siiba Alfa, these claims by some members of the Ghana National School Feeding Caterers Association are false. He added that no proof has been provided to support the allegations.

Speaking on JoyNews on Sunday, Siiba Alfa said the caterers failed to provide a regional, district and community breakdown of the supposed 'ghost schools', the people involved in such an act, how much the alleged culprits have been paid, among other details.

“It’s preposterous to just throw out allegations of this magnitude without providing any scintilla of evidence. We are surprised our caterers will go out of their way and make these wild baseless allegations, without any facts to back them.”

“We are saying that what they are saying is not true, there has not been any payment of that nature, that is why we are surprised,” Mr Alfa told Emefa Apawu, host of the show.

This comes after some caterers of the Ghana National School Feeding Caterers Association accused the National Secretariat of the Ghana School Feeding Programme of paying an amount of GH¢12.9 million to some 510 'ghost schools' in 2019/2020 academic year.

At a press conference, one caterer a Ms Caroline Aboagye alleged that their independent investigations had led to the uncovering of the alleged 'ghost schools' in all 16 regions of Ghana.

However, Mr Alfa said if the caterers are serious about their allegations they would have reached out to the National Secretariat of the School Feeding Programme with their evidence.

“So we are calling on everybody to disregard these claims and treat it with the contempt it deserves,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mr Alfba said despite the programme’s belief that these allegations are false, his outfit will launch their internal investigations into the issue.

“We are also going to look into it and if it’s even beyond us, we will also invite other agencies to help but on the face of it, it is the figment of their imagination," he stated.