School feeding caterers strike over unpaid arrears

Caterers of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) on Monday picketed the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to mount pressure on government to settle arrears owed them.

The caterers said they have not been paid for the past eight months.

Their spokespoerson, Maame Yaa Duodua Appiagyei, told Accra-based Neat FM  that none of their about 5,432 members have received payment since June 2016.

They have therefore given the government up to the end of May to pay their arrears or they will embark on a strike.

“They have been owing us from June 2016 till date. We have been able to cook since the beginning of this term. Now we have exhausted every avenue [and] we don’t have any place to go for help. Because we are using the mobile money system, we cannot go to the banks for loans. Things are very difficult for us and we don’t know where to go,” she said. 

She said they were owing their suppliers and cannot go back to them for credit.