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The Minister-designate for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Sarah Adwoa Safo has promised to take every necessary step to ensure payment of arrears to caterers of the School Feeding program if she is confirmed as the sector Minister.

She gave the assurance in response to a question by Hon. Rev. Ntim Fordjour MP for Assin South when the Minister-designate appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for vetting.

Asked whether the phenomenon of Kayayee should be scrapped or not, Hon Sarah Adjoa Safo said she will consult relevant bodies like the Committee on Children and Gender of Parliament on the matter if her nomination is approved by Parliament in order to make a decision.

The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) has paid a total of GHC280 million arrears to caterers and cooks engaged by the scheme.

Mrs. Gertrude Quarshigah, the National Coordinator of GSFP, who announced this somewhere last year, said about 2,244 people, mostly caterers and cooks, were employed by the programme compared to 1,365 under the NDC administration, representing an increase of 60 percent.

Mrs. Quarshigah, in an interview, said despite a few challenges, the GSFP was greatly beneficial to many families in the country’s 16 regions.

Beneficiary schools currently stood at 258,583 from 120,029 when the New Patriotic Party-led government took office in 2017.