Govt settles third-term arrears for school feeding programme caterers

Nana Amoh Otu Sekyi, National President of the School Feeding Caterers Association, has confirmed that third-term unpaid salaries for caterers participating in the Ghana School Feeding Program have started to arrive.

This development follows a pledge to resolve these payments made by Dakoa Newman, Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection.

While some caterers have successfully accessed their monies, others have not yet done so because of bank holidays and restricted access to banking services in rural areas, according to Nana Amoh Otu Sekyi, who made this revelation in an interview with Citi FM.

“By the grace of god, they honoured their promise, they paid December 31, around 6:pm. Some of the caterers have been able to access the funds on January 1. Because some of the banks have their e-zwich machines outside.

“But others complained that they were not able to access it. Maybe by tomorrow [January 2], everybody will receive an alert. Not all of them have been able to access the account because today [January 1] is a holiday [bank holiday]. Some of them too are living in rural areas where they don’t have access to banks, until working days like January 2, up to Friday they will call to confirm receipt or otherwise.”

In the meantime, the association’s national president has voiced hope that their unpaid salary from 2019 will be paid.

“December 31, the chief accountant called me concerning that issue. I will be at the office on January 2, for us to talk about it. We are hoping that next week they will tell us something positive about the 2019 issue [arrears].”