We are not happy – School feeding caterers cry

Caterers under the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) in the Ashanti Region on Monday, April 4, 2023, besieged the office of the Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah demanding monies owed them.

The caterers also want an increase in monies paid them per child under the programme.

According to the caterers, the Minister did not grant them a listening ear.

One of the Caterers who spoke on Class 91.3 FM’s Midday Live to Valentina Ofori-Afriyie on Tuesday, 4 April 2023 said: “It’s rather unfortunate we came here just to present our petition because we’ll say that he’s the president in the Ashanti region for the government and so we just came here to present our petition but he came out that we should go out we cannot come here to shout.”

She expressed the group’s displeasure with the Minister’s utterances.

“Meanwhile you know women when they are angry they have to shout they have to make noise and it is normal so what we were expecting from him is to just come and receive it and tell us something that we’ll be happy with but unfortunately, he just snubbed us and so we’re not happy,” she said.

One of the leaders of the school feeding programme, Aunty Naa, also explained why they had gone to the regional minister’s office.

“We were already there last two weeks to enquire about our monies. They were owing us almost three terms. We went there to complain. It’s almost a week now [since] we got some of the money which is one.

“We were expecting 55 days but rather we got just only 35 days so yesterday, we went there to go and give the regional minister our petition so that they can hear our cry and for them to know that the 97pesewas they used to pay us cannot continue, we can’t take that money again. We want it increased to just GH¢3 but when we went there, the way the regional minister behaved was not good at all,” she bemoaned.

She pleaded with government to pay them their arrears.

“He owes us three terms so we’re pleading that he gives us the third term. We’re pleading that they pay us the third term payment because the one they paid recently, we were deducted."

“So that money we cannot use it to cook and you know in Ghana you cannot use GH¢2 to buy food,” she noted.

The group, currently on strike, revealed its members will continue to stay home till government pays them.

“That’s it because we don’t have money,” Aunty Naa noted.