Caterers Under School Feeding Programme Withdraw Services

Some caterers in Ashanti Region under the government’s school feeding programme have also withdrawn all their services after school resumed on the Tuesday, April 4. The decision to withdraw their services comes after the caterers threatened to lay down their tools following the government’s failure to pay arrears owed them.

The caterers who are also demanding an increment in the amount government pays per child daily from ninety-seven pesewas to three Ghana cedis say the current amount is unsustainable because of the current state of the economy and its accompanying high cost of food commodities.

In some public basic schools visited within Kumasi, headteachers confirmed that they are not expecting to receive food for the pupils under the government’s school feeding program on Tuesday as the caterers have informed them that they are not cooking. Some of the headteachers also indicated that several efforts to reach caterers of their schools have been unsuccessful.

The caterers in their bid to get authorities to address their concerns petitioned the Ashanti Regional Minister on Monday, 3rd April 2023, but they however expressed dissatisfaction with his response to their concerns. One of the caterers in the Ashanti region, Dorothy Ofori Sarpong insisted that all caterers in the region are not cooking until the government addresses their concerns.