The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Education have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support the production of school uniforms, furniture, and 12 million sanitary pads for schools across the country.
The agreement grants the Ministry of the Interior, through the Ghana Prisons Service, a minimum 30% concession for the production and supply of school furniture. It also provides a minimum 25% concession for the rollout of the government’s 2025 free sanitary pad initiative.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, said the MoU is designed to ensure value for money while strengthening production within state-owned institutions.
“We will ensure value for money and transparency in public procurement by anchoring production within state-owned industrial system subject to clear oversight,” he stressed.
The Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Patience Baffoe-Bonnie, highlighted the broader social impact of the partnership, noting its potential to curb reoffending among inmates.
“Apart from what was said earlier, which is, helping them to be law-abiding while in prison and also creating the opportunity for them to earn income whiles in prison, the ultimate goal is to ensure that the public is safe.
“If this cycle is completed, what it means is that we are going to break the cycle of recidivism and people who come to us in prison will be released to go and live law-abiding lives,” she said.
For his part, the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, revealed that the initiative aims to produce more than 12 million sanitary pads and assured that adequate budgetary allocations would be made to support the Ghana Prisons Service in meeting this target.
“We definitely will find some budget line to support the Ghana Prisons Service to undertake the production of these sanitary pads. Into 2026, we will be mindful and guided by this MoU when we are undertaking the procurement,” he said.
