Tuesday, September 19, 2023 – Pupils in Nairobi public schools went hungry on the first day of Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja’s school feeding programme.
Sakaja, in partnership with French Government, launched the Dishi na County programme which aims to provide free lunch to all pupils in public schools in the city.
The pupils had been asked to pay Ksh5 every day for lunch to sustain the programme, but on Monday it failed to start after initial promises.
After paying the required amount, pupils on Monday reported to school without carrying lunch, but Sakaja did not keep his end of the bargain.
Additionally, the county government has not given any communication on why they did not deliver the food.
The failure of the program came two days after Sakaja listed the initiative as one of his legacy projects as the top county administrator.
“We have built 10 kitchens to feed 250,000 children, and some 88,000 children are on-boarded already,” he stated after he was ranked as the worst-performing governor.
Sakaja plans to use Ksh1.2 billion to fund the project which will see the food cooked at central points and distributed to various schools.
The governor had explained that the kitchens would be tasked with cooking nutritious meals that would be transported to schools using sealed containers and special vehicles.
“Each kitchen is expected to produce about 10,000 nutritional meals daily,” Sakaja promised Kenyans on June 20.
It was not revealed if the 10 kitchens that have already been constructed prepared any food today.
With no communication from the governor, parents are wondering whether to pack food for their children on Tuesday and what will happen to the money they had already paid.
The Dishi na County had initially been challenged in court by former Nairobi County Education CEC Janet Ouko who had argued before the High Court that the mandate of feeding schoolchildren was a preserve for the National Government and parents.
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