School Feeding Secretariat begs Caterers to back and cook

While the government works to ensure the release of funds for the payment of outstanding arrears, the Ghana School Feeding Secretariat is pleading with school feeding caterers to reconsider their decision to stop providing their services.

On Tuesday, April 4, some caterers who participate in the government’s school feeding program in the Ashanti Region went on strike in demand of arrears payment and an increase in the feeding grant.

The monies will soon be distributed, according to Alfa Siba, Chief of Public Affairs at the Ghana School Feeding Secretariat.

“To determine how best to address the situation, we are involving the pertinent stakeholders and the caterers. We only recently paid all the districts for the second term of the 2022 academic year.

As a result, we are pleading with the caterers to change their mind and continue cooking for us.

Following the government’s failure to pay debts owed to them, the caterers threatened to stop working and made the choice to discontinue their services.

The caterers claim that the current amount is unsustainable due to the current situation of the economy and the high cost of food commodities, which is why they are also calling for an increase in the amount that the government pays every child daily from 97 pesewas to 3 Ghana cedis.

The headteachers of various public elementary schools in Kumasi that the media visited acknowledged that they do not anticipate receiving food for the students as part of the government’s school feeding program since the caterers have told them that they are not cooking.

Some of the head teachers also mentioned that they had tried unsuccessfully to contact their school’s caterers on multiple occasions.

On Monday, April 3, 2023, the caterers petitioned the Ashanti Regional Minister in an effort to get the authorities to address their issues. Nevertheless, they expressed unhappiness with his reaction as they were asked to leave.

Dorothy Ofori Sarpong, a caterer in the Ashanti region, emphasized to Newsmen that until the government answers their issues, none of the caterers in the area are cooking.

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com