School Feeding: Bekwai Caterers to Boycott Govt’s ‘One Hot Meal’ over debt
Thousands of School Feeding Caterers in the country especially those at Bekwae in the Ashanti Region have resolved to boycott the Government’s ‘One Hot Meal’ programme currently running for the final year Junior High School students and teaching staff.
According to the Caterers who want to remain anonymous, the 3.5 cedi as the cost for each plate for a student is woefully inadequate insisting authorities should increase the cost to 10.00 cedis per meal.
The President, Nana Akuffo-Addo during the 15th Address to the Nation charged the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to ensure that all the final year JSH students be fed due to complaints he has received of the students going hungry. The programme which has since started on 24th August 2020 saw the Nana Addo government receive spontaneous commendation for showing care to the plight of the students.
But the Caterers at Bekawe who are the first to openly complain of the intervention maintained,” We want authorities to increase the 3.5 cedi cost for each plate to 10.00 cedis because we are rather incurring losses every day. How do you expect us to prepare a delicious meal made up of Jollof rice with stew, egg or fish, spoon, bowl and a sachet of water? I am already indebted just few weeks of implementation, the only way out is to boycott it. We have complained to managers but they are not listening to us. The situation is the same everywhere in the country but we are afraid to expose the government.”
Touching on the School Feeding Programme, the Caterers disclosed that they have not been paid for close to two years, saying that the last time they were paid was in September 2018.
The aggrieved Caterers who claimed allegiance to the ruling New Patriotic Party told Asante-Yeboah Benedict that they remained silent to speak to the media but they could no longer contain the pain they are going through.
They accused Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister Hon. Cynthia Morrison of failing to pay them on time insisting that the administration of the former Minister Hon. Otiko Afisa Djaba was much better.
One Caterer teary said,” Our debtors are chasing us for their locked up funds. We have been borrowing the ingredients from the market women and for two years now most of them have lost their investments. Some of us are experiencing hypertension as a result, and we want the government to listen to our pleas. We are all NPP members but we are dying of silence. Even under NDC some of us made fortunes to the extent of building our houses. They are not telling Nana Akuffo-Addo the truth.”
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com/Asante-Yeboah Benedict
