Free Nutritious Meals Governance Overhaul Targeted for Completion Within One Month, Non-Compliant Kitchens to Be Shut

The government has confirmed it will improve the governance of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme. Minister of State Secretary (Mensesneg) Prasetyo Hadi said the target for completing the MBG governance overhaul is within one month.

“We are targeting the beginning, this one month it must be done, but of course there are dynamics, so the first thing we emphasise is that what is already running must continue to run, there must be no disruption. Everything (regarding MBG improvements) we will look at later, not just the motorcycle issue, we will also look at others,” he said at the Coordinating Ministry for Food Office, Jakarta, Thursday.

Prasetyo stressed that one direction of the governance improvement concerns the closure of Nutritional Service Fulfilment Units (SPPG) that do not comply with standard operating procedures (SOP). As well as the closure of SPPGs in areas where there is an excess of MBG kitchens.

“Definitely the direction is towards that (closure), but we cannot say today whether it is closed or not, it is being reorganised, we are looking, inventorying what the conditions are like,” he said.

He emphasised that the establishment of all SPPGs must comply with the SOP. The affiliation of SPPG owners with certain political parties also cannot be linked to MBG governance, because everyone has the right to own an SPPG as long as it is operated according to the established standards.