Gender Ministry Announces Payment Of School Feeding Caterers

The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Lariba Zuweira Abudu, has announced that arrears owed to the Ghana School Feeding caterers will be paid in the coming days.

She disclosed this during a press briefing on Sunday, June 4, 2023.

Justifying the delay in the payment, she said, “It takes time because the number (of caterers) is very voluminous- in thousands- so it needs time for the auditors to go through and make sure that every caterer who has cooked has been captured for payment. This one takes time and they have to bear with us when their monies are not coming.”

She assured the caterers will have their money next week, however, failed to give the exact date.

“I want to give the assurance here that next week, caterers’ arrears will be paid. We have done all the validation, and auditing.”

According to her, the first and second-term arrears of the 2022 academic year were paid as of April 2023.

Third Term Arrears
She stated that the government had cleared 11,052 caterers for payment in relation to the third term of the 2022 academic year.

But noted, “Some did not cook during the third term of the 2022 academic year. They will not be paid”. She, however, did not give figures to that.

This is because the caterers are paid based on the number of days they cooked in a term, she explained.

Meanwhile, she said 76 caterers’ payments are pending as a result of challenges with their Ezwich cards.

Statistics
According to Hon Abudu, the number of school feeding beneficiaries has increased from 1,671,777 in 2016 to 3,801,491 in 2023 in 10,832 public basic schools (KG to Primary 6).

The current number of caterers employed under the Programme is 34,359.

The proposed feeding cost at the moment is GH 1.20. She said her Ministry is in talks with the Ministry of Finance to review the amount.

“The programme is currently running an electronic monitoring system which provides real-time data to enhance programme delivery,” she noted.