The president of the school feeding caterers Mrs. Charlotte Ashaki Asnate has appealed to the government and the school feeding secretariat as a matter of urgency to settle all the arrears owed the school feeding caterers because their debtors are chasing them day and night for their monies.
Speaking on Plan B FM morning show NKOSUONSEM, Mrs. Ashaki Asante stressed that, there are a lot of issues going on in the school feeding program but they manage to get food to feed the pupils.
“Our houses are on fire due to indebtedness and our debtor are always on our neck for their monies and the government owes us three terms’ arrears and some deductions. Looking at how the price of goods and services keeps increasing and you pay 0.97 pesewas per child is not enough, people are calling for the increase of Ghc3 per child but i will suggest that it should be increased to Ghc5.80 pesewas per child and with that, the caterers can cook a well-balanced diet for the kids”, she added
Meanwhile the Public Relations Manager at the school feeding secretariat Mr. Siibi in an interview with the media, appealed passionately to the caterers in all regions threatening to embark on a sit-down strike to rescind their decision.
“We want to appeal to our dear caterers who are threatening to go on a nationwide strike to exercise restraint and cooperate with the processes leading to the payment of their 3rd term of 2022 arrears,” he said.
Mr. Siiba refuted claims by a section of the aggrieved caterers that the government is presently owing them for three continuous terms.
He revealed that the government/School Feeding Management just this April 2023 finished paying the caterers for the 2nd term of 2022 with an amount of 200 million Ghana cedis, even before they staged the protest in Kumasi.
As it stands now, the government owes the caterers only the 3rd term of 2022 and the 1st term of 2023 which just ended. So, the caterers are owed only 2 terms. 3rd term of 2022 payment. He insisted.
He reiterated that the GSFP, in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection is working on the necessary documentation to ensure that payment for the 3rd term of 2022 is effected as soon as possible.
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