school feeding
School feeding

Some caterers of the Ghana School Feeding Programme are up in arms with the government over the delay in payment of their money.

According to them, the government’s inability to release their funds has left them in trouble with their debtors.

Chairperson for the Association, Juliana Cudjoe, revealed this on Beyi W’ano segment on Adom 106.3 FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem, Wednesday.

She lamented they have not been paid for some time, adding even when the funds are released, they are underpaid, a situation she believes only makes the NPP government unpopular.

“I am an NPP member, I have held so many positions in the party at the constituency level for so many years and so I could not fathom why they have to make us go through this trouble. I am tired of always complaining. If I didn’t become a minister or a Member of Parliament, and a caterer at school feeding, why must you treat me this way?

READ ALSO:

“Some people are making the government unpopular. Our salary payment has been an issue for so many years and even if they pay, they underpay us and give us meager amount of money. The only crime we have committed is to cook for these school kids to eat,” she cried.

The caterers say they are forced to use their own pocket monies to make sure that the government’s policy is running smoothly yet those who will distribute the funds have not been able to fulfill their part of the bargain.

However, spokesperson for the Programme, Edmund Gyebi, on the same show said the government has released funds for the payment of arrears.

According to him, the normal contractual agreement between the caterers and the government is that cooking services are supposed to be pre-financed by the caterers for at least a whole academic term.

The disgruntled caterers have already been complaining that the GH¢0.97 allocated to each child is not enough.

They called for urgent increment in the grant, insisting that the amount cannot prepare nutritious meals for the school children.