The National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Gertrude Quarshigah, has explained that most of the caterers experiencing challenges with the payment of their allowances are not recognised by the Secretariat.

According to her, some of the caterers did not use the right channels to join the programme, hence the challenges they faced with payment.

The caterers for several months now have been agitating over the delay by the government in paying them for work done.

They have also demanded that the feeding grant be increased from the current 97 pesewas per child.

At a media engagement, the National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Gertrude Quashigah, listed the regions that have been paid so far and said they are working to get the remaining regions paid.

“When you hear caterers say they are not being paid, they are not facing the fact that they are misbehaving. They are taking the schools themselves, meanwhile, the structure here does not allow that. We are working around the clock to instil some discipline into the programme. What we are waiting for is to pay them.”

Recently the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, emphasized the need for challenges with the national school feeding programme to be quickly resolved.

In recent times, there has been a running battle between caterers of the programme and authorities over the cost of feeding per student.

In a bid to resolve the challenge, the Speaker paid a surprise visit to the National Buffer Stock Company and the National School Feeding Programme.