The Ghana School Feeding Secretariat is urging school feeding caterers to reconsider their decision to cease operations while the government works to assure the flow of money to settle their arrears.
On Tuesday, April 4, several caterers in the Ashanti Region participating in the government’s school feeding programme went on strike, demanding payment of arrears and an increase in the feeding grant.
The monies will be disbursed soon, according to Alfa Siba, Chief of Public Affairs at the Ghana School Feeding Secretariat.
“We are engaging the relevant stakeholders and the caterers to see how best we can resolve the issue. Just last week, we paid the second term of the 2022 academic year to all the districts. So, we are appealing to the caterers to rescind their decision not to cook while we continue the engagements.”
The caterers’ decision to withdraw their services comes after they vowed to strike in response to the government’s inability to pay debts owed to them.
The caterers, who are also asking for an increase in the amount the government pays each kid daily from 97 pesewas to three Ghana cedis, claim that the present amount is unsustainable due to the situation of the economy and the high cost of food items.
Head teachers acknowledged to Citi News that they do not anticipate getting meals for their students under the government’s school feeding programme since the caterers have notified them that they are not cooking.
Some of the head teachers also stated that multiple attempts to contact their schools’ caterers had proved futile.
The caterers petitioned the Ashanti Regional Minister on Monday, 3rd April 2023, in an attempt to persuade authorities to address their problems, but they were told to leave and voiced unhappiness with his response.
