The Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr Clement Apaak has blamed the government for the challenges that have bedeviled the school feeding school.
This comes on the back of scores of caterers on the school feeding programme in the Ashanti region who were left in a shock, when the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah snubbed them, on Monday April 3, 2023.
The aggrieved traders had gone to the Regional Coordinating Council to present a petition.
For weeks now these caterers in Ashanti region have been protesting for the release of payments which is almost a year in arrears, and an upward adjustment of the allocation fee, from 97 pesewas per head to GHc3.
They have attributed the demand for adjustment to hikes in prices of food stuff and other food commodities on market.
Commenting on the development on Morning Starr with Francis Abban Tuesday the lawmaker indicated that statistics available shows that the school feeding program has led not only to increase in enrollment but retention as well.
“It is important to recognize that in many schools the caterers all together stopped cooking meals for the pupils largely because the government has failed to pay them. So clearly if we ought to blame, the blame must be squarely placed at the doorstep of this government.
“What worries me is that year-in and year-out budgetary allocations are made and Parliament approves this budgetary allocation. So it then becomes the question of priority because if allocations are made approved by Parliament and you expect that the caterers will be paid so that they can continue feeding pupils,” the lawmaker stated.
He continued: “But I think that this is another example of a lot of talk and less action. It is clear that the Akufo-Addo led Bawumia NPP government has only been paying lip service to education in general and basic education in particular. We all know the reason why the school feeding program was introduced. First of all it was supposed to offer students who are from less endowed backgrounds a hot meal a day. Intended to prevent them from being hungry.”
The deputy ranking member on the Education Committee in Parliament stated that current challenges with the school feeding program are defeating the purpose it was introduced for.