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CHRAJ calls for inquiry into School Feeding programme
Accra, April 29, Ghanadot/GNA – The
Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ)
on Tuesday called on the government to urgently conduct an
inquiry into the alleged mismanagement plaguing the School
Feeding Programme (SFP).
“Allegations are rife about the mismanagement, corruption
and conflict of interest within the entity managing the SFP,”
CHRAJ’s stated in a document submitted to the United Nation
Human Rights Council, as an input into the Universal
Periodic Review (UPR) on Ghana, slated for May 5th and made
available to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
The Commission called on government to immediately extend to
the SFP and the Capitation Grant scheme to cover every
Ghanaian child and to translate its good intentions and
commitment to human rights and the rule of law into action.
CHRAJ disclosed that there are 1.357 million children of
school going age who were not attending school either as a
result of unavailability of schools within easy reach, or
that parents were unable to bear the extra cost.
The UPR created in 2006 by the new UN Human Rights Council
review will assess the human rights record of Ghana for the
past four years, the nation’s adherence to Charter of the
UN, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Commission also expressed concern about the inability of
the government to fulfil the constitutional guarantee for
basic education in the country.
CHRAJ explained that Government’s introduction of the
Capitation Grant Scheme in the 2005/2006 academic year is
limited in scope as it did not cover all the cost of
education at the basic level.
Others are observance and application of international
humanitarian law and Human Rights Instruments to which Ghana
is a party, voluntary pledges and commitments, especially
those the nation undertook during a presentation for
election to the Human Rights Council.
The CHRAJ document also urged the government to ensure the
speedy passage of the Freedom of Information law to enable
individuals, civil society organizations, and particularly,
the media to access information from public officials more
easily.
The Commission urged government to adequately resource key
governance institutions, exhibit greater political will to
fight corruption and also ensure ratification of
international instruments and harmonize its provisions with
domestic laws.
CHRAJ reiterated the call for decoupling of the position of
the Attorney General and Minister of Justice and suggested
the appointment of an independent non partisan public
prosecutor.
On human rights record in the country, the Commission said
it was given a hard blow by the Supreme Court’s ruling that
the commission could not on its own motion investigate human
rights violations, abuse of office and conflict of interest.
According to CHRAJ, the Supreme Court relied, in part, on
the opinion of the Attorney General in that regard, “this
unfortunate decision has the effect of dampening our
proactive stance which has earned us much credibility and
had indeed allow the commission to conduct its own
investigations triggered by allegations in the media.
“CHRAJ has a critical role to play in promoting and
protecting human rights and integrity, therefore it must not
be inhibited in any way, particularly in doing investigation
of human rights violations from credible sources including
newspaper reports,” the reported stated.
The Commission also noted that Police brutalities seemed to
be on the increase as case of death of suspects while in
police custody was rising.
On the right to health care, the Commission noted that in
spite of the introduction of the National Health Insurance
Scheme, the cost of health care was beyond the reach of many
people.
Whilst some health institutions, including government
hospitals were illegally detaining patients, especially
nursing mothers and babies, for their inability to pay their
medical bills.
GNA
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