Eighty-three food suppliers lose contracts because of poor delivery

The contracts of 83 food suppliers to 553 public senior high schools (SHSs) across the country have been terminated for poor delivery.

Their places have been filled by new suppliers who have been charged with a strict mandate to deliver the right quantities and quality supplies, and on schedule.

All the current 383 suppliers in the 10 regions will, however, be screened again before the end of the year to assess their individual capacities to deliver.

This, according to officials, is to ensure better delivery from next term to satisfy conditions under the Free SHS Programme.

In an interview in Wa on the sidelines of a fact-finding engagement between officials of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and heads of schools in the Upper West Region, the acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Food Buffer Stock Company, Mr Hanan Abdul-Wahab, said his outfit was compelled by the “appalling execution of contract” by some food suppliers to cancel those contracts.

He said most of the suppliers whose contracts were cancelled “simply lacked the capacity to deliver”.

The forum held last Tuesday was to resolve issues arising from the implementation of the Free SHS Policy.

It was the second in a tour by a team which is to visit all 10 regions. It gave the school heads a chance to air their views on specific challenges that had arisen since the implementation of the Free SHS Policy in September.

Mr Abdul-Wahab said some of them had failed to supply even a single food item to the schools under their jurisdiction since schools re-opened, plunging the Free SHS Policy into immediate difficulties.

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No show at 11 schools

In the Upper West Region for instance, 11 schools received no supplies at all, while others complained of infested and/or rotten grains, among other issues.

The Ag. CEO added that some of the suppliers did not have the resources to purchase and supply the food items in their right quantities to the schools, while others only supplied poor quality food items, and in some cases rotten food.

Mr Abdul-Wahab said the Food Buffer Stock Company, which awarded the contracts, had no alternative than to relieve them of their respective contractual obligations.

Government policy

As a government policy, all state institutions requiring food are to buy from the National Food Buffer Stock Company for reasons of reliability, assured quality, adequacy in quantity and competitive pricing.

These state institutions include the 673 SHSs across the country.

The Buffer Stock Company buys and holds excess agricultural produce from farmers for re-sale during the lean season.

Mr Abdul-Wahab said all the current suppliers for the SHSs were registered with his outfit before the start of the Free SHS Policy, but emerging challenges demanded a re-look at the profiles of the suppliers.

He said the company had also restructured other areas of the supply contracts, especially for the Upper West Region, where all suppliers would now be contracted from the region.

Mr Abdul-Wahab said school heads would also be allowed to do on-demand purchases for perishable items in order to save cost, manage supplies and forestall some of the current challenges.