Nsowah Removed

23-09-09
Page 31

FORMER Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Mr Michael Nsowah, has been relieved of his appointment as the National Co-ordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP).
The termination of appointment took effect from yesterday, September 22, 2009.
Mr Nsowah, 63, confirmed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday.
According to him, no reason was assigned for his dismissal in his termination letter signed by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yileh Chireh.
The government has, however, explained that the termination of the appointment was to inject fresh ideas into making the implementation of the programme a success.
Mr Chireh said the fact that the contract engaging Mr Nsowah was due to expire next July did not bind the government to go by the dictates of the contract.
He believed that the GSFP had reached a stage where the abundant experiences and knowledge of other Ghanaians could be tapped and brought to bear on the running of the programme.
The termination of the contract comes two years after the dismissal of his predecessor, Dr Amoako Tuffour, following reports of financial impropriety and other allegations levelled against him by the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) and investigated by the previous administration.
Mr Nsowah said the letter directed him to hand over to the Chief Director of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development, adding that the letter of termination requested him to take his annual leave, which ends on October 31, 2009.
Mr Nsowah said he was given a two-year contract,
which was supposed to end in July next year.
He said he was not sure of what led to the termination of his appointment.
The re-opening of basic schools last week was characterised by confusion in the implementation of the school feeding programme across the country.
The chaos, which resulted in some schools being fed with extra food while others did not have any at all, also drew a sharp wedge between the National Co-ordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Mr Nsowah, and the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Alfred Vanderpuije.
While Mr Vanderpuije blamed the problem on caterers who used to cook for the schools but whose contracts had been abrogated, Mr Nsowah deplored the timing of the decision to recruit new caterers for the programme.