Caterers who operate under the School Feeding Programme have expressed their dissatisfaction with the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, for allegedly shutting them out of his office when they went to present a petition to him.
According to the caterers, they had picketed at the premises of the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council to protest against the government's inability to pay their arrears for several terms.
The group also called on the government to increase the feeding fee per child from 97 pesewas to GH¢3.00.
The spokesperson for the Feeding Programme, Dorothy Sarpong, disclosed that they had gone to the Regional Minister to appeal for their arrears to be cleared, but they were asked to leave.
She explained that it was unfortunate that the Regional Minister had behaved in such a manner towards them despite the challenges they faced in providing food for school children.
Mrs Sarpong said, “The women are crying, the women are angry, the women are having pressure, and they are owing their suppliers a lot, and you are telling us to go away with our noise and that you will not listen to us.”
Last week, the caterers threatened to withdraw their services if the government failed to settle more than three terms' worth of arrears.
The unpaid arrears had been an issue of concern to the caterers for some time, with some of them struggling to feed the children due to a lack of funds. Despite this, the government has not given any clear indication that the arrears will be paid anytime soon.
The School Feeding Programme is an initiative aimed at providing school children with one meal a day to improve their nutrition and encourage school attendance.
However, the programme has been fraught with challenges, including irregular payments, delays in payments, and inadequate feeding fees per child. The caterers have called on the government to address these issues to ensure the success of the programme.