Heads of SHSs cite Buffer Stock Company over missing cost details of food supplies

Ghana National Food Buffer Stock Company is being cited by heads of two Senior High Schools for failing to disclose the cost of food items supplied to schools since 2024, complicating auditing processes and accountability checks. According to Hassana Yahya, Headmistress of Ahamansu Islamic Senior High School, "Our school food items are being supplied by the National Buffer Stock Company. They only accompany the foods with the waybill, without the values… we wrote to them, thinking they would respond, but they never did."

The concerns were raised during proceedings of the Public Accounts Committee, where the Auditor-General flagged gaps in documentation relating to hundreds of bags and cartons of food delivered to selected schools under the government's food supply programme. Felix Akpah, Headmaster of St. Mary's Seminary Senior High School, Lolobi, corroborated this, stating that the issue has persisted for years and that "Buffer Stock brings food items, sometimes even delivered by drivers, and we sign without knowing the prices. We keep asking but we don't get responses." He added that schools often have no independent means of verifying the value of supplies unless information is provided by the agency, which he says has not been forthcoming.

Committee members and audit officials expressed concern that the practice undermines transparency and makes it difficult to properly assess government expenditure on school feeding logistics.