The Greater Accra regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Divine Otoo Agorhom, has assured caterers signed under the School Feeding Programme of the government’s willingness to pay arrears owed them.
The chairman revealed to some women present at the inauguration of the Tema West Women Wing of the NPP.
He also hinted that the government was working in consultation with relevant stakeholders and partners to release the arrears owed to them to enable them to pay their creditors.
School feeding caterers all over the country have threatened to lay down their tools as a result of government’s refusal to heed their calls over the payment of some arrears owed them.
Speaking at the conference and inauguration ceremony, Mr. Agorhom appealed to the caterers to continue cooking for the school children whilst the government takes urgent steps to address their legitimate concerns.
According to him, the issue of delay in the payment was a result of the time-consuming processes involved in data collation on the work of the caterers before payment but assured that the process was being worked on as quickly as possible.
“At the last engagement with those in charge, there’s a formula, there’s a way of putting the data together to determine who’s done what and who’s deserving of how much and that processes take a lot of time, but I think we’ve over delayed it and the attention now is to speed up the process and get the women paid so that they will be able to also pay their creditors”, Mr. Agorhom emphasized.
The regional chairman also apologized to the women and stated that the delayed payment to the women was not deliberate as the government was making a conscious effort to navigate its way through the tough economic challenges the country is faced with.
The first vice chairperson for the region, Joana Frances Ada who was also present at the conference encouraged the women to be united with a common goal as the party aims to retain power in the 2024 general elections.
She, therefore, charged the women to spread the good works of their party amidst the economic crises the country is facing and also advised them to be in touch with the people right from now and not wait until the eleventh hour as they may receive the disapproval and resentment of the people at that point.
The Tema West constituency women organizer, Mary Ennoo also pledged her readiness to lead a campaign to rally the support of the people to vote for the New Patriotic Party.
