Following a strike by Ghana School Feeding Program caterers, many pupils throughout the country were unable to eat their regular hot meal yesterday (GSFP).
The School Meal Caterers Association initiated an indefinite strike on Monday to address outstanding arrears and insufficient feeding funding.
They promised to keep boycotting until their grievances were addressed.
Indeed, a meeting between the GSFP administration and the leaders of the organization to address the issue resulted in a standstill yesterday at the National School Feeding Secretariat.
Grievances
The caterers demanded that the government boost the existing daily meal allowance for children from 97 Gp to GH3 per child.
They also requested immediate settlement of all outstanding debts.
According to the caterers, the 97 Gp per kid budget was insufficient to provide decent food for the pupils, considering the country's present economic crisis, which has resulted in growing food prices.
Some caterers at the National School Feeding Secretariat in Accra told the Daily Graphic that they were dissatisfied with the time it took for money owing to them to be paid.
One of the caterers, Adwoa, stated that she would not cook until she was paid the money she was owed.
She said that the cost of products and services had skyrocketed, despite the fact that each plate of hot meal cost 97GP.
"We'd want to see the grant raised from 97 Gp to between GH2.50 and GH3," she added.
Veronica, another caterer, stated that some of them had taken out loans to feed the children, and that their lenders were pursuing them.
Rahel Yeboah said she had not been paid despite providing meals for eight months. "What can you purchase with 97Gp?" she inquired.
"What can you purchase with 97Gp?" she inquired.
"In the last several months, the costs of products and services have increased by over 300 percent, and we are still receiving the same amount," she bemoaned.
Cooking continues.
Despite the fact that there were difficulties to be resolved regarding the payment of arrears and the expense of feeding, one caterer, who would not provide her name, said she was still cooking.
"I'm not on strike because I'm cooking." "I understand there are problems, but I feel we can continue to cook while we wait for our problems to be resolved," she remarked.