Food Suppliers Threaten To Picket At Education Ministry If Debt Is Not Paid
- Food suppliers have threatened to picket at the Ministry of Education if seven months' worth of arrears are not paid to them
- The group also accused the government of deducting funds from their payments indiscriminately and without an explanation
- The food suppliers said attempts to get government officials to the table to address their grievances have proved futile thus far
The National Food Suppliers Association has said it will picket at the Ministry of Education to demand the immediate payment of seven months’ worth of arrears.
The food suppliers have accused the government of deliberately frustrating the operational activities of the National Food Buffer Stock Company, which has adversely affected suppliers who supply food to the company.
Source: UGC
According to the spokesperson for the National Food Suppliers Association, the government would face the wrath of the members if it failed to pay their arrears in full.
Kwaku Amedume told Citi News that the government has also allegedly been indiscriminately deducting money from their payments without any explanation as to what it is being used for.
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He claimed that the government has deducted almost GH₵3,000 from his payments and the situation is worse for others.
Amedume noted that despite trying to address the matter amicably in a meeting with government stakeholders, all attempts to set up a meeting have proven futile.
Thus, the association has decided to organise a press conference on Monday, July 29, 2024, to address their grievances.
“We want the government to pay our money in full. We are planning on serious picketing because it looks like they are bent on taking our monies,” he warned.
When food suppliers picketed at Buffer Stock Company
In 2023, the food suppliers picketed at the National Buffer Stock Company over the Akufo-Addo government's failure to pay debts that had piled up for over two years.
For two nights straight, per GhanaWeb, scores of food suppliers, most of them female, spent the night in the open at the company's premises.
The company manages the state's emergency food security reserves by working with farmers and other food suppliers to mop up excess produce from all farmers, to reduce post-harvest losses like spoilage due to poor storage.
The food suppliers spent their nights on July 5 and 6 at the premises of the company.
Social media was inundated with images and videos of the food suppliers sleeping under rough weather conditions.
Minority and Agric Minister clash
YEN.com.gh also reported that there were exchanges between the minority and Agric minister Bryan Acheampong on Friday over the food suppliers' picket.
The minority had gone to the scene of the protest to get answers for the picketing that started on Tuesday, July 4, 2023, over the government's alleged indebtedness.
However, Bryan Acheampong was not enthused by the MPs' visit, especially when they arrived at the head office of the Buffer Stock Company with journalists.
Proofread by Bruce Douglas, senior copy editor at YEN.com.gh
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Source: YEN.com.gh
