Let’s make the School Feeding Programme a priority – Alban Bagbin
Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has reiterated the need for the concerns of caterers under the National School Feeding Programme to be addressed.
Currently, there is been a disagreement between caterers under the program and authorities over the cost of feeding per student.
In a bid to address the challenges, the Speaker paid a surprise visit to the National Buffer Stock Company and the National School Feeding Programme.
“I decided to spring this surprise to see on the ground how these agencies are struggling to cope with the pressure. I am trying to understand the challenges they are experiencing and how we can support them to do their work. It is a national issue that I did not want to be taken along partisan lines. We pass the laws and approve the budget, and therefore we should be on top to assist the government to put their priorities right.”
Caterers nationwide boycotted cooking weeks ago over outstanding allowances owed to them by the government.
Caterers in Savannah, Volta, Western North, Oti, Bono, Ahafo, Bono East and North-East regions were subsequently paid by the government after several protests.
However, some school feeding caterers in the Western Region recently picketed at the offices of the School Feeding Programme Secretariat in Accra, agitating over the non-payment of monies owed them for preparing meals for pupils.
