We haven’t been paid since September 2019 – School feeding caterers

Caterers under the school feeding programme are once again lamenting the delay in payments for their services.

According to them, they haven’t received any money from the government since September 2019.

Speaking to GhanaWeb on the basis of anonymity for fear of victimization, some caterers noted that the delay in their payments affect their businesses as they end up incurring more loses than profit since they usually get their food items on credit.

“Some suppliers after three months what they do is that at the end of every month they put 10% of the cost price on it as that is the profit they would have made if they had sold it for cash… the more the money delays the more you end up losing and at the end of you don’t make a profit or gain anything from it,” one of them said.

Even when they are paid, the caterers said, there are always balances to be added which also takes very long to be paid to them.

To add to their pain, they lamented that they are always being chased by banks and other creditors to pay up their loans.

They added that the delay in their payments can also be blamed for the poor quality of food some caterers serve to children in schools.

“When this thing delays it affects the quality of food that you prepare. This is because we can’t borrow more until we are paid for what we’ve already taken so we resort to rationing the supplies we have till we are paid,” they stated.

They mentioned that they are asked to fill several forms when they lodge complaints with their coordinators who are under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection but that never speeds up the process.

The caterers are appealing to government to pay them all their arrears before schools resume else, they won’t be able to cater for the children.

They added that even though this programme is supposed to help them take care of their families, it’s rather making life difficult for them.