A Kumasi High Court has ordered caterers who were recently contracted by the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) to stop work.
The court decision was an outcome of a determination of the case brought before it by the caterers, to the effect that termination of their contract was unlawful.
The GSFP recently terminated the contracts of the caterers; a situation which compelled the aggrieved caterers to seek redress at the law court.
Hon Joseph Yieleh Chireh, Minister of Local Government
The court presided over by Justice Debra last week ruled that with the case in court, there was the need for the caterers to stop cooking for the school children, pending the final determination of the case.
As a result, the parties involved were directed to reappear in court on October 6 2009.
The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) which was introduced in 2005 by the erstwhile Kufuor administration had been bedeviled with myriad of problems with the recent one being the decision of the current administration to terminate the contracts of caterers who started the project.
With the raging impasse, TODAY gathered that most children, who otherwise relied on the provision of food in their schools, now go hungry. This is because private vendors, who previously sell at the schools dread coming back for fear of reprisal from the school authorities.
Some of the caterers also disclosed that some of the pupils have been complaining about severe hunger since the old caterers were asked to stop operating in their schools.
However, the Public Relations Officer of the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council, Ernest Boakye Gyamfi, has disclosed that since the order came from the court, there was nothing his outfit could do.
Meanwhile the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) has noted the need for a review of the programme in order for the project to take off again.
BY RITA ADU GYAMFI AND MELODY CAESAR