The National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) has given assurances that it will settle all outstanding arrears of members of the National Food Suppliers Association.
This comes after the government paid only half of the 2022 arrears owed workers who have supplied food items to senior high schools.
The food suppliers had embarked on a four-day picketing a few weeks ago to draw attention to their concerns.
Following the intervention of the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Bryan Acheampong, NAFCO has begun paying the food suppliers.
However, the suppliers are unhappy with the amount that has been paid so far.
In response to the matter, the CEO of NAFCO, Hanan Abdul-Wahab, said that his organization and the government are committed to settling the debts of the disgruntled suppliers.
“There are many processes that their invoices must go through before payments can be made. This is because the Ministry of Education has actually instituted a fourth audit team to go to the field to audit payment requests that have come from NAFCO. As a result, some of these things take time. And even as of last week, 2022 invoices were still coming in,” he added.
NAFCO began paying part of the debt owed to members of the National Food Suppliers Association on Thursday.
However, the food suppliers have expressed disappointment, saying that the amount paid is insufficient and is not enough to settle the debts they owe to their creditors.
The Minister of Agriculture had promised to settle the debt on July 17, but this promise was not fulfilled.
Another assurance was given that the debt would be settled on Thursday, July 20, but the food suppliers who submitted their documents for payment claim that the money provided to them is inadequate, as only half of the 2022 debt was paid.
