The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo has urged school feeding carters to stay calm as she promises to solve all their problems relating to School Feeding.
Hon. Sarfo made this assertion during a meeting with the leadership of the Ghana National School Feeding Caterers Association at the Ministry, Accra.
“I will urge you to stay calm and continue to cook the nutritious meals you have been providing for our school children. The program has increased the enrollment of pupils in our public schools so I’m pleading with you, for us to work together to get the School Feeding Programme to the desirable state it ought to be,” she stated.
The leadership of the Ghana National School Feeding Caterers Association called on Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, to present a petition on some purported unfair treatment being meted out to them.
The National President of the Association, Hajia Asana Salifu presenting the petition on behalf of its members, mentioned the delay in payment, inadequate Feeding cost per child(currently at 0.97p per child), operational structure, and corruption at the School Feeding Secretariat as issues members of her Association are unhappy with.
In responding to the issue, Hon. Adwoa Sarfo said, “Since I came into office, the School Feeding Programme has been at the heart of my agenda. I can assure you that we are working assiduously to ensure that caterers are paid on time and that we resolve all issues which affect the smooth running of the program.” she stated.
She continued, “The Ghana School Feeding Programme is one of the government’s flagship programs designed to reduce poverty and tackle food insecurity issues especially in the poorest areas of the country with a focus on providing one hot nutritious meal to children in public kindergartens and primary schools and as such, the Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo government is committed to improving the program and make it worthwhile for our loyal caterers” she stressed.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Joseph Asare
