Last Monday, June 13, marked the start of the sixth week since caterers under the School Feeding Programme placed on record, their plight to the government on their inability to continue to render services, while government decisions continue to erode their meagre savings spent to sustain the programme.
Strike
In response to the harsh treatment they received from the government, these caterers have recently started an industrial action.
The purpose of this action was to bring the aforementioned issues to the attention of the heads of the relevant ministry and agency.
To draw readers’ attention to it, the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection’s school feeding program’s goal is to boost enrollment, attendance, and retention in school.
In addition to improving domestic food production, the program is intended to decrease hunger and malnutrition among students, particularly in underprivileged and rural agrarian communities across the nation.
The caterers hired to supply these services have been on strike for the past six weeks, which is unfortunate but genuine.
Legitimate demand
These caterers have straightforward, legitimate requirements. They seek prompt payment for the 68 days of pupil feeding at the current rate of Ghp 0.97 per child each day. They also ask for an increase in the daily allotment due to the high price of food goods.
The caterers claim that in order to fulfil their obligation to feed these students, they obtained loans from various financial institutions or purchased food on credit from vendors.
Therefore, the government’s prompt payment is intended to settle those obligations and maintain their creditworthiness. Their creditors, who are breathing down their necks day and night, are making their position worse.
Additionally, under the current economic climate, it is nearly impossible for them to make a nutritious meal at the current fee of Ghp 0.97 per pupil per day.
The caterers, therefore, have a strong argument. With today’s high cost of living and galloping inflation, especially the exponential growth rate of inflation on food goods at these dizzying heights, what quality lunch can be served for Ghp 0.97 in Ghana?
Impact
Due to the direct relationship between these caterers’ absence and students’ attendance in rural, underprivileged, and poor communities’ lower primary schools, their absence has had an impact on how many students attend school.
In other words, a significant portion of the 1.69 million pupil-beneficiaries of this program who were fed prior to the curtailment caused by the strike action are currently absent from school and may not return if the government does not address the unresolved issues raised by these service providers.
The government’s approach to dealing with this important issue baffles me.
Budgeted
The 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, which was discussed, taken into consideration, and adopted by the elected officials of the people, included a budget for the School Feeding Program.
Any democracy cannot tolerate the release of public funds for any unbudgeted and unapproved initiative at the expense of budgeted and approved programs, such as school food, and we must not tolerate the same.
The government needs to increase the cost of feeding each student as soon as feasible and rapidly fulfill its commitment to pay the caterers.
With the GH881 million allocated for the School Feeding Program in appendix six, page 272, of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, the government was mandated to carry out this task.