Dorothy Ofori-Sarpong, a caterer engaged by the Ashanti Regional School Feeding Programme to provide meals for school children has claimed she and her colleagues are bonafide members of the ruling New Patriotic Party.
Making the claim on Citi FM’s morning show, Dorothy insisted that her claim cannot be controverted since it is an open secret.
She maintained that 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.
Dorothy was one of many of the Ashanti regional caterers who on Monday descended on the Regional Minister’s office at the Regional Coordinating Council chanting songs and calling on the Minister to intervene to get their unpaid arrears settled.
The caterers claimed to be owed various sums being arrears for three school terms (one academic year) food they have provided schools, and even when their employers offered them payment for one term, they were deducted sums for ‘non-teaching days’.
The Minister, Simon Osei Mensah refused to receive them, let alone receive the petition of the caterers, angry that the group had gone to him in the manner they did- noisily and unruly- when they were seeking a favour from him.
When the agitated caterers would not heed the Minister’s admonitions for calm, he chastised them and left their presence.
But Dorothy says they were equally disappointed in the Regional Minister because the school feeding caterers had expected him to show them love.
“What happened was that, he came out, and then he said why are you here with this noise, why are you coming to ask something from your father and you are making noise, get out from here… so we decided to delegate three of our leaders to go there and plead just for him to come and say a word to the women so that we can calm down but he refused.
“We tried our best just for him to come and say a word but he didn’t,” said Dorothy, explaining that while they were not so sad about what the Minister did, “but what we were expecting from him was love, just show some kind of love because we knew that he wasn’t the one going to pay us and we were not going to demand anything from him but to present something to him and for him to say may be (take heart for all will be well) but he didn’t show love.”
Government offers the caterers GHȼ0.97 (less than one cedi) per student per day, an amount the caterers have rejected as too paltry and require a raise.
The caterers have consequently suspended their services until their concerns are addressed.
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