Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin says the demand by school feeding caterers to increase school feeding grants is justified.
The
caterers want an upward review of grants to prepare meals for school children
from the current ¢0.97 to ¢3 per school child.
The
caterers in May embarked on a strike to drum home their demand for an upward
adjustment in feeding grants.
According
to the Speaker, who paid a surprise visit to the school feeding secretariat on
Thursday, the ¢0.97 feeding grant to feed a school child is woefully
inadequate.
Alban
Bagbin explained that the caterers’ demand is necessary regarding the current
global economic challenges.
“We
see that there is a challenge and the challenge is financing. The caterers, as
you say, do the pre-financing because of the global economic situation, which
has affected Ghana.
“There is
the need for an upward adjustment of the amount you give to them. Definitely,
¢0.97 is on the low side, and their demand is justified,” he stated.
The Speaker
is, however, not sure if government would be able to meet the ¢3 daily demand
by caterers.
For this
reason, Mr Alban Bagbin called on stakeholders, including NGOs, to aid government
with the national school feeding programme.
“I
think it is a very critical initiative. It is a national policy supported
nationally by all of us and passed through the various governments.
“We should
all put our hands on deck and I will want to assure you that Parliament will do
our bit…we will look at how we will support the school feeding secretariat to
generate more revenue,” he said.
The
National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Gertrude Quashigah,
assured that the concerns of the caterers are being dealt with.
“The MMDCEs
in the Regions called on behalf of the caterers. We rely on government for
payment, and so we have assured them, we will always continue to plead with
them and to encourage them and then to calm them down and to console them,” she
noted.
She
disclosed that her outfit had also received some ¢50 million from Controller
and Accountant General to be used for payment for the caterers.
“Last
Thursday, we received ¢50 million from Controller, and we were able to use the
Thursday and Friday to transfer the money to GHIPPS for payment, so GHIPPS also
did their due diligence and then prepared the file for payment. That payment
went on Monday.
As part of
the surprise visit, Alban Bagbin also visited the National Buffer Stock
Company.
He assured
the company Parliament will ensure funds are available to the organisation to
expand its capacity to stock large quantities of food for a rainy day.
“You
can see that one of the biggest challenges is funding. It is just not
sufficient to give seed money; I think that government will, from time to time,
have to come in to provide them with some financial support.
“This will
keep the prices to the level we usually refer to as affordable and not allow
this price escalation. So let us see how we could support this institution, and
so I will brief the House,” Bagbin assured.
Source: myjoyonline