We'll be sacked if NDC wins — NPP School Feeding caterers in Kumasi cry out

According to Dorothy Ofori-Sarpong, a caterer engaged by the Ashanti Regional School Feeding Programme to provide meals for school children, she and her colleagues are members of the NPP.

She said the caterers will not be retained when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) wins the next elections adding that all current caterers must be members of the NPP.

In an interview on Accra-based Citi FM, Ofori-Sarpong said the job is sacrificial hence it takes a party person to support the programme, which also explains the level of attrition that has attended the school feeding programme since inception by the Kufuor administration – with caterers dismissed en-mass upon a change in government, to be replaced by party folks.

"We know that when the NDC wins power, we will all lose our jobs... All of us are members of the NPP," she stated.

Her reactions come after the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah rudely snubbed some caterers on the school feeding programme in the region.

The caterers on Monday, April 3, 2023, showed up at the Regional Coordinating Council to present a petition to the Minister over their unpaid allocation.

The aggrieved caterers have been protesting for weeks now for the release of payment which is in arrears for almost a year. The caterers also said they are demanding an upward adjustment of the allocation fee from 97 pesewas per head to GH¢3.

The aggrieved women said the demand for the increase of the allocation is due to hikes in prices of foodstuff and other food commodities on market.

They have been having a back and forth with the regional school feeding secretariat, but nothing positive has ensued.

They decided to send their grievance to the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah after weeks of no response from the government particularly from the Minister of Gender responsible for managing the school feeding program.

However, they were left disappointed when the minister snubbed them and left them in shock.

A leader of the group Mercy Ofosu Mensah described the minister’s actions as unfortunate.