School Feeding: Caterers Confirm Receipt Of Payments After Bulk Of Arrears Are Settled By Government
- The finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has said the government has settled a portion of school feeding arrears
- Caterers under the School Feeding Programme confirmed that they have started receiving payments for their services
- School Feeding Programme caterers went on strike in April 2023 to demand the payment of arrears owed them by the government
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School Feeding Programme caterers have received payments for most of their outstanding arrears from the government.
The only outstanding arrears for the year are for the second term of 2023.
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During the 2023 Mid-Year Budget Review, finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta said the government had settled arrears owed to caterers for the second and third terms of the 2022 academic year as well as the first term of 2023.
In an interview with Citi News, the Association of School Feeding Caterers Association said it had received most of the arrears.
The association's President, Charlotte Asante, said her outfit expected the 2023 arrears to arrive by the end of the week.
“I don’t know what happened, maybe this week they will start paying the 2023 2nd term arrears and other outstanding slides for 2019.”
Past challenges
YEN.com.gh has in the past reported on the challenges that have saddled the school feeding programmes.
The Gender Ministry at a point had to counter claims that the School Feeding Programme has been put on hold to clear arrears
The ministry said such assertions were false and misconstrued comments by Cecilia Dapaah, the minister with oversight at the time.
It also assured that it would do its best to keep the programme on its feet.
Strike over arrears
Most recently, in April 2023, school feeding caterers declared an indefinite strike because of the arrears owed to them.
The caterers also demanded an increase in the feeding fee per child from 97 pesewas to GH¢3.50.
This fee was, however, only increased from GH¢1.00 to GH¢1.20 for the 2023 academic year.
The School Feeding Programme has also been fraught with concerns over the quality of meals provided to basic school students.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
