School Feeding caterers call for end to electronic mode of payment

Caterers under the School Feeding Programme are demanding an end to the electronic method of payment by the government.

President of the National Association of School Feeding Caterers, Faustina Amevor, told Joy News the method is exposing them to fraud.

As part of measures to streamline payments, the government announced a different method of payment - the mobile money system.

Caterers were directed by government to register with the mobile money service providers last year. Payments have since been made to the cooks through the mobile money platform and not by cheques as was previously the case.

But the cooks say they would want the old system where they received their cheques from District and Municipal Assemblies restored.

According to them, some of the mobile money operators take advantage of the illiteracy of some of the caterers to dupe them.

"Most of the caterers have not been to school so they are unable to operate their mobile phones to cash the monies. This forces them to reveal the secret code numbers that we use to get our monies to the cashiers at the counter and that is very risky," Faustina Amevor indicated.

Meanwhile, the Director of Monitoring and Evaluation at the Social Protection Ministry, Mawutor Ablo admitted there are some challenges but said new measures are being put in place to resolve them.

"We are moving towards the banking system using the e-Zwich so in this case, the caterers will liaise with the banks, their accounts are at the banks and the monies will be given to them through the e-Zwich," Mr Ablo noted.