Finance ministry releases funds to School Feeding programme

The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) has received funds from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to defray its indebtedness to caterers under the programme.

An official statement issued in Accra and signed by Alhaji Siiba Alfa, Public Relations Officer of GSFP and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Friday, stated that the GSFP has already disbursed grants in two tranches over the last few weeks.

The statement said the first tranche of 36 days cleared the areas for the third-term of the 2013/2014 academic year while the second tranche of 24 days was part of the first term of the 2014/2015 academic year arrears.

The statement was in reaction to publications circulated in the media that suggested the GSFP was collapsing due to non-payment of some caterers in the Greater Accra region since September.

The statement, however, said it acknowledges that about 95 days (covering part of the first term of 2014 and the whole second term of 2015) of feeding grants have not been paid to the caterers.

“We wish to urge all stakeholders including caterers, the media and the public to cooperate and support the school feeding programme in order to ensure that the programme is sustained and implemented successfully”, the release said.