Pupils enrolled in public primary schools in Nairobi risk going hungry after Phase Two of the much touted of the School Feeding Program by Nairobi county hit headwinds after food rations to schools ran dry leaving learners to fight hunger-pangs.
Yesterday, City Hall failed to deliver the food rations in schools.
Instead, the county government led by Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja revealed that it had advised schools included in the second phase to continue with the existing programs before being enrolled for the ‘Dishi Na County’.
In a reactionary move, the embattled governor claimed some politicians are out to sabotage his controversial school feeding programme.
Through a Twitter update on his personal page, Sakaja sensationally claimed some politicians also intend to harm the school going children.
“Meeting at Asmara planning to harm children in the school feeding program… leave the children out of this. I’ll face you in 2027. Don’t poison children for your political goals. And you can’t, it’s their parents cooking. Or now if you’d like. Nyalenda and Bungoma express. (It must work (lazima iWork).
In some schools, children had not carried packed lunches, relying on the anticipated meals from the county.
Among the schools affected with withdrawn food rations include;Tumaini Primary School in Nairobi’s Umoja Innercore and Ndururuno Primary School in Mathare constituency, Nairobi.
Most pupils had to persevere, spending the whole day without food.
Sadly, the county government did not communicate about the delays to suffering kids who did not carry lunch to school.
The problem yesterday came even after it emerged that most schools who are under the first phase have been struggling to get food on time.
During the launch, the programme which was dubbed Dishi na County a few months ago, the program was supposed to target 81, 208 learners for the first phase.
The program has been receiving mixed reactions with a section questioning how it’s being rolled out.
According to Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, the feeding programme dubbed ‘Dishi na County’ that was launched by Sakaja in August has not been beneficial to Nairobi children. “Each school should have well equipped kitchen and staff, Sakajas 10 kitchens cannot feed hundreds of thousands of learners in Nairobi, the ratio of kitchens to kids is ridiculous, but again someone who ran away from school and is using fake degree certificates cannot understand these simple facts,” the MP wrote in a tweet.
The MP said that the programme, designed to provide daily meals to public primary school and Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) pupils at a nominal fee of Sh5 per day, should have been managed by schools and not the county.
He also claimed the programme is causing disruptions in school schedules due to delays in food delivery caused by transport issues, labelling it as nothing short of a scandal.
Responding to the allegations, Sakaja stated that the county has communicated with all school heads to continue with their arrangements until communication on when the next phase is to begin.
Already, he said, 80,000 children are enjoying meals at Sh5 on the phased implementation.
“Sadly, opportunistic premature 2027 aspirants are so hell-bent that this should not work that they are even considering harming our children,” Sakaja said.
He added, “A few people are against our feeding program for nefarious reasons. Resorting to propaganda won’t work. The first phase of schools onboarded have been getting their hot meals daily and on time. All head teachers have communication to continue with their arrangements until the county communicates once the next phase begins.”
Each school should have well equipped kitchen and staff, Sakajas 10 kitchens cannot feed hundreds of thousands of learners in Nairobi
