The Minister for Gender and Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba says the hue and cry over the School feeding program is largely due to the selfish interest of some people.

Some supporters of the governing New Patriotic Party in the Northern region have accused the minister of bias in the distribution of appointments under the program.

However, in what appears to be her first public comment on the matter, Otiko described the action of the angry party supporters as selfish, an act which defeats the purpose of the program tailored to help the vulnerable.

The Minister said the School Feeding program is undergoing restructuring and rebranding to achieve its mission statement.

“The School feeding program is also being expanded and we are going to have a new school feeding program for 2018. It is challenged by lots of issues largely because people are just selfish and their expectations are centred around themselves. The time has come for us to be more lenient and tolerant of those who are very vulnerable, that is what school feeding program is about “.

She made the comments in Koforidua during a roundtable discussion on the National Social Protection Policy, Social Protection Bill and Social Protection Policy Implementation Plan, attended by the Gender Committee of Parliament.

According to the Gender Minister, the School feeding program is moving away from the use of imported food items to local produce in order to improve the economy.

“We also moving away from importing rice and growing our own rice and using homegrown products for the school feeding so that we can create market for the farmer, get jobs for the women and get food for the children so that they will stay in school, remain in School and finish School. We will be linking all these up for the Free SHS program “