[ 2017-10-24 ]

7-days pay for 125 days work an insult - Sacked caterers picket at Gender Minist
Sacked caterers under the School Feeding Program
on Tuesday picketed at the Gender Ministry
demanding full payment for 125 days of feeding
school children in public schools.

A leader of the Concerned Caterers, Dela Agbenyu
maintained they have only received 7-days payment
for the work done in the second and third terms of
the 2015/2016 academic year.

Dressed in red, the caterers said after more than
1,000 of them were sacked, the government is
adding insult to injury by the continued delays in
the payment of arrears

"They have taken the job from us and they haven't
paid us for our second third term", she told Joy
News Tuesday.

She said two deadlines provided by the Gender and
Social Protection Minister, Otiko Djaba have been
missed after a July assurance to pay and a
September pledge elapsed to their chagrin.

After a two-hour wait, the administrator of the
Ghana School Feeding Program Dr Kwame Adu-Nsiah
emerged from a meeting to explain the causes of
the delay.

He said the Gender and Social Protection Ministry
does not have funds lodged in its account for the
caterers. He said the Ministry looks up to the
Finance Ministry to disburse payments.

The Coordinator, however, assured the caterers,
the government will pay them by the end of
November.

He however maintained, the caterers have been paid
16 days, not seven as claimed by the caterers.

While admitting to the delays, the Coordinator
would not admit, the delay smacks of insensitivity
to the plight of the caterers.

He explained that since March, the government has
released about 151million cedis to pay off
arrears. This is a "monumental" commitment to
settle arrears.

The balance outstanding, he said, is less than the
amount paid as far.

Source - Myjoyonline.com

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