THE Northern Regional Secretariat of the Ghana School Feeding Programme is yet to be opened after it was locked up almost a week ago by a pro-NPP group, which calls itself the Burma Camp Youth, in protest against the recruitment of caterers.
Shockingly, the police and the Regional Security Council have done very little to restore sanity in order for pupils who rely on the programme to continue to benefit from it.
Members of the Burma Camp Youth at Aboabo in the Tamale Metropolis locked up the secretariat on October 17, 2017.
Spokesperson of the Burma Camp Youth group, Mohammed Kamil, earlier in a Citi News interview, vowed that the secretariat will be under lock and key until the mode of selection of the caterers and zonal co-ordinators is reversed.
Staff of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, including the regional co-ordinator, Felicia Tetteh, have since not returned to work.
The group members have accused the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Miss Otiko Afisah Djaba, of hijacking the programme in the region, hence their action.
The group has, thus, petitioned the Northern Regional Chairman of the governing NPP, Daniel Bugri Naabu, and the party’s Regional Council of Elders over the matter.
The group in that petition asked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to call Otiko Djaba to order.
Over the weekend, they threatened to lock up district offices of the Ghana School Feeding Programme beginning Monday October 23, 2017, if the problem is not solved.
They warned caterers who have been allocated schools in the Tamale Metropolis not to cook or else they will be severely dealt with, but the caterers ignored the threat.
The Zonal Co-ordinator for Tamale, Sagnerigu and Tolon, Suraya Abdul Manan, says all caterers under her supervision were at work.
She said no amount of intimidation or threats will compel the caterers to stop cooking. Suraya Abdul Manan encouraged the caterers to ignore any threats and continue to cook for the pupils.
Meanwhile, the Northern Regional Police Command appears not to be bothered about the Burma Camp Youth group’s action.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Yussif Tanko, claimed the matter had not been officially brought to the notice of the police administration.
His comment drew public condemnation from listeners, who sent messages to the news programme via various social media networks.
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