I wonder why President John Mahama is creating the impression that his Government has been wronged or offended by those who could be his grandchildren, the country’s vulnerable pupils, the beneficiaries of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP).
On Friday, May 2, 2025, a shock official announcement terminated the appointments of the GSFP caterers. The statement from the programme Secretariat read:
“Please be informed that contracts of all caterers of the Ghana School Feeding Programme have been terminated with immediate effect. Accordingly, no existing caterer on the programme should cook for the third term of the 2024/2025 academic year …”
However, it promised that “all outstanding arrears for the second term of the 2024/2025 academic year will be paid in due course.
“The GSFP Secretariat, as part of its ongoing restructuring exercise, will soon announce the modalities for the recruitment of new caterers for the programme.” It was signed by the new National Coordinator, Hajia Fati Forgor.
Now under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the GSFP took off in 2006 during the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government of President J A Kufuor, with support from the Dutch Government.
Of course, the statement issued on the eve of the reopening of schools for the third term, was directed at the caterers, but it had an immediate, predictable effect: since May 6, 2025 when schools resumed, no caterers have been working, and thus no free lunch for Ghana’s underprivileged future leaders, who doubtless had come to depend on their daily free, essential nourishment.
Reportedly, the main caterers body of thousands has presented a petition to sector Minister Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, pleading to be allowed to finish their contracts ending in August.
Nevertheless, is it possible that President Mahama doesn’t know about the plight of the affected children, that those deemed in need of that vital support, are now going hungry?
According GSFP sources, the programme “currently benefits over 4 million pupils daily … As of June, 2024, the number of beneficiaries is estimated to be around 4 million.”
Furthermore, the GSFP “is essential because it addresses food insecurity, malnutrition, and low school attendance among children in public primary schools, particularly in the poorest areas. By providing daily, nutritious meals, the GSFP aims to improve children’s health, enhance their cognitive development, and increase their school engagement.”
Some of the caterers have stated that they only got to know about the termination on social media. All those interviewed revealed that as they had not been given notice of the termination, they had used all their money in buying food stocks in preparation for the reopening. They
deplored the absence of notice, because they would certainly not have spent money, their working capital, on buying foodstuffs if they had known about the cancellation.
Besides that, it seems mind boggling that apparently the National Democratic Congress (NDC) leaders who took the termination decision didn’t foresee its immediate, terrible impact on the pupils: lunchtime hunger until new catering arrangements are completed.
Or, they did envisage that but didn’t care, because some defenders are arguing that in the past the NPP administration had done the same to caterers believed to be NDC?
One can see a clue in the part of the announcement that says “The GSFP Secretariat, as part of its ongoing restructuring exercise, will soon announce the modalities for the recruitment of new caterers for the programme” (emphasis added).
Therefore, apparently, the termination is part of the Mahama Government’s ongoing offensive of dismissals and cancellations affecting almost all sectors, evidently to do with people believed to be NPP loyalists, sympathisers or appointees! And the explanation usually offered is that the NPP, too, had done that to NDC members and sympathisers.
Certainly, there is no dispute that the two leading political parties in Ghana, the NDC and the NPP are perpetually at loggerheads, notably the grassroots.
But does the Government of President Mahama have a quarrel with the nation’s pupils, too?
This sad, shameful punishment of Ghana’s vulnerable minors should be enough to tell the political combatants that their tit for tat needs to stop, AND NOW!
If the Government didn’t want people to see the termination as a show of power, as vindictive and malicious, why were the caterers not given any notice, at least allowed to work until the end of their third term contracts?
Undoubtedly, the termination is just one more sorry episode in the tit for tat political vendetta in Ghana, an effect of the extreme, unreasonable partisanship drowning Ghana.
The issue is, whether the caterers, or any of the unfortunate victims of the NDC-NPP perpetual hostilities, are dismissed or contract cancelled for belonging to the losing party, are they not Ghanaians? Does the country’s Constitution not guarantee freedom of association?
And even if the caterers, and any others, are non-Ghanaians, if they live in Ghana and are deemed qualified to be given the contract, are they not entitled to fairness and their rights?
President Mahama’s main campaign message for Election 2024 was “Resetting Ghana”. His historic, compelling 56.55 per cent victory means his message was accepted by the voters.
In reflection of that, should resetting not include doing away with bad or negative practices, such as political tit for tat?
Not surprisingly, other desperate caterers are trying to seek the intervention of high authorities to mediate in the matter. As reported, Mrs. Gifty Asamoah, president of the Ashanti Region branch of the Progressive School Feeding Association, has declared their intention to seek the mediation of Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, National Chief Imama Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharabutu, the
Council of State and First Lady Mrs. Lordina Mahama.
Why should President Mahama wait for such an intervention to prove to the GSFP needy children, that he has no quarrel with them?
If anybody needed illustration of the proverb about what happens to the grass when two mammoths fight, the current situation of disadvantaged, innocent children going hungry offers the proof – virtually in technicolor.
Mr. President, I hope you will intervene ASAP to allow the caterers to at least finish their contracts and bring back the smiles on the faces of the pupils, the very category the state should protect.
Conceivably, some of the affected ‘deprived’ or ‘poor’ pupils will in future become people of substance and influence. And they will probably not remember the tit for tat justification. What they will surely remember is the spiteful deprivation of their essential free lunch.
Does President Mahama want to be remembered as the President who, by restoring the caterers’ contracts, started the process to stop the needless, unprogressive tit for tat; or, as the President who could have used his veto power to restore to innocent, needy minors their one square meal a day, unjust punishment for no wrong committed – but chose not to?
Your Excellency President Mahama, the choice is yours.
