School feeding caterers in all 16 regions have accused the government of Ghana of underpayment of the 2024 first-term arrears owed to them.
A caterer who expressed her frustration over grants and taxes deducted from their already meagre funds in an interview on Onua FM’s Yen Nsempa on July 2, 2024, revealed that caterers receive only GH₵0.90 (GH₵1.20 – GH₵0.3) per child which is grossly inadequate to provide nutritious meals.
She further noted that the taxes reduce their funds compelling them to go for loans in order to fulfill their obligations.
Meanwhile, the government in a statement explained that, the first term period, which officially began on October 9, 2023, caterers worked for a total of 58 days.
However four (4) days were deducted from the total amount due to official communication instructing caterers to use October 3 to 6 for a clean-up exercise as a result, the total number of cooking days was 54.
Addressing the issue, the National Secretariat has directed that all caterers who genuinely have issues report to various regional coordinators.
“The National Secretariat has therefore directed that all Caterers who genuinely have such issues of underpayment or no payment should immediately report to their Regional Coordinators for prompt redress.
“The issues would be thoroughly investigated to ascertain whether all the affected Caterers cooked throughout the term or they were rather affected by non-cooking days’ deductions.”
The National Secretariat therefore urged the caterers to remain calm whilst they make the necessary efforts to address the issues.
