‘Government delays in paying us because we are nobody’ – School Feeding Caterers

Government has paid caterers under the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) their arrears for the first term of the 2023/2024 academic year.

But the caterers in Ashanti Region are unhappy with the amount paid, claiming they’ve been shortchanged.

They said, receiving GHC1.15 pesewas per child instead of the agreed GHC1.50 pesewas is a breach of agreement and has left many of them in debt.

“It’s true that the money has been released, but we are not enthused because the former Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hajia Lariba told us that though we were demanding for 3 cedis per child, government approved GHC1.50 and it was to take effect in September 2023 (first term).

But after feeding the children for 9 months, government paid only the first term arrears at a cost of GHC1.20 per child. Even with that, the School Feeding Secretariat gave us GHC1.15 claiming a tax of 5 pesewas has been deducted.

That was not the agreement because we factored GHC1.50 in cooking and you’re giving us less? We are demanding for the outstanding 35 pesewas”, Secretary of the School Feeding Caterers in Ashanti Region, Dorothy Ofori-Sarpong told 3news.com.

The caterers complained about the hikes in food prices and how the delay in releasing the funds is impacting on their business.

“A bag of beans that we were buying for GHC900 last year is now between GHC2,200 and GHC2,500. Bag of gari was GHC800 in 2023, but now we buy it for GHC1,800. Prices of everything have gone up significantly so if you reduce the payment, it means you want to kill us”, Madam Dorothy grumbled.

The angry caterers want the second term arrears to be paid by the close of next week, else they won’t cook when next term begins.

“When you look at government payroll, it is huge, but they don’t complain about delays in salaries, so we believe not paying us is deliberate because we are nobody. This is an election year, and the women are angry that they will boycott the December 7 election if the outstanding balance is not paid,” she revealed.

The post ‘Government delays in paying us because we are nobody’ – School Feeding Caterers first appeared on 3News.

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