The Public Relations Officer for the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Siiba Alfa, has admitted that caterers under the program in the Upper East Region are owed some amounts of money.
His comments come after concerns were raised by the opposition NDC in the Upper East Region.
“Since the resumption of public basic schools on January 9, 2024, for the second term of the 2024 academic year, caterers contracted under the program have failed to fulfill their contractual obligations, leaving innocent children without the nutritional support they depend on.”
“The National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Upper East Region expresses deep concern over the deliberate and discriminatory actions taken by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government, negatively impacting basic school students in the region who are being denied their daily one hot meal under the Ghana School Feeding Program (GSFP). Since the resumption of public basic schools on January 9, 2024, for the second term of the 2024 academic year, caterers contracted under the program have failed to fulfill their contractual obligations, leaving innocent children without the nutritional support they depend on,” a statement signed by Jonathan Abdallah Salifu, the Regional Communication Officer for the NDC stated.
Speaking to Mark Smith on the Day Break Upper East Show today, Siiba Alfa explained that plans are advanced to ensure that caterers are paid.
“Most of these issues bothering on payments. The caterers complain about money and say we have not been able to pay them so they are not able to cook in some cases. But as I speak to you, we have started to make payments in some areas for the past terms. So far, we have been able to pay selected regions. We have paid the Greater Accra Region, Ashanti Region, Eastern Region, North East Region, and part of the Northern Region. That is where we are. We are mobilizing funds to pay the rest of the arrears.”
“Yes, we do understand that when the arrears are not paid, the caterers are not able to procure the food items to go and cook for the students to feed. So we are just appealing to them to do their best, knowing that no matter what, the monies would be paid to them.”
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
