Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Cynthia Morrison has said that she cannot blame individual politicians who cook and share for card-holding members of their party.
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She told Samuel Eshun on the mid-week edition of the ‘Happy Morning Show’ (HMS) that ‘’if party people take money from their own pockets to provide cooked meals for card bearing party members I can’t fault them for that’’.
According to the Gender Minister, the food being shared by the Ministry of Gender is being given to all Ghanaians irrespective of their party affiliations.
‘’How can we share ‘government food’ for only New Patriotic Party (NPP) members’’, she asked rhetorically.
She however, indicated that the cooked meals are taken to the district assemblies by the caterers.
‘’When the caterers finish cooking, they take it to the district assemblies and stock is taken. If for example we requested for five hundred (500) packs and it’s not up to the number the caterer will add that to the next day’s stock. It is the NADMO officials who are distributing these meals, and these people are technocrats not politicians’’, she stated.
When Samuel Eshun asked her about the videos circulating on social media where people are clamouring for food and not observing the social distancing protocols she said:
‘’ We are distributing these meals to more than thousand people and you will agree with me that even at parties where sitting arrangements are clearly demarcated, when they call table one (1) to come for their food you will see people from table ten (10) coming to join and cause confusion. It is not only when going for food that you need to observe the preventive measures it should be done every day”.
She also mentioned that as a Ministry they are taking advantage of the food distribution to educate some people on drug abuse.
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‘’ Sometimes I jokingly tell the guys who come for the food to stop doing drugs because it is contributing to their insatiable hunger. I have also decided to add some provisions to the cooked meals that is from the Ministry’s coffers not the COVID-19 allocation to augment the cooked meal’’, she said.
The Ministry earlier announced 0800800800 and 0800900900 as the free food hotlines for vulnerable groups in locked-down areas in the country.
