Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja’s controversial school feeding programme dubbed ‘Dishi na County’ is marred in financial discrepancies and cannot account hundreds of millions of shillings amounting to Sh145million (1million Euros) donated by the French government towards the school feeding initiative.
Effectively, the operations, management and financial accountability of the Dishi na County programme has been put into question after in emerged the entity is ran without any framework and the monies channeled through donation or the Sh5 charged to every kid taking part in it are derposited in a privately owned firm.
The shocking revelations that have potentially thrust the much publicised programme into possible financial impropriety were made by the Health Committee Executive Committee Member of Health and Nutrition Suzanne Silantoi while appearing before the Select Committee on Health and Nutrition at the Nairobi County Assembly to give a full report of the Dishi na County initiative.
The CEC was also unable to explain why kids pay Sh5 each and why the money is not deposited to the account opened by the county but directly to the account by Food for Education, a privately owned company thus rendering the same difficult to account.
Further, the committee established that donations and money appropriated by the county are paid directly to Food for Education; a sole proprietor whole got the tender to make the meals and supplies to the Nairobi Public School children.
Health committee chairman and Mountain View MCA Maurice Ochieng questioned the criteria that the county used to establish only 25000 kids were the ones unable to pay Sh 5 that the children pay before getting the meals daily.
Food for Education Chief Executive Officer Wawira Njiru told the committee that the one million Euro donation by the French government to support the program was paid directly to their account raising an alarm on why the county opened an account for the Dishi na County program yet it was dormant.
“We received money from the French government for the 25,000 children that we had proposed meals for, which is 1 million Euros; the rest of the money is not for Nairobi. We have many donors everywhere who contribute daily to help implement the programme in other counties.” Wawira revealed.
However, today, while appearing before the Senate committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations in Machakos, governor Sakaja denied the claims saying that donation was made to Food For Education to support their school feeding programme including in Nairobi and the money was not paid directly to the Nairobi City county government.
“Let us not politicise the dishi na county school feeding program. This program continues to improve the nutritional status of the children and also encourages students to attend school leading to an increase in enrollment, performance, and transition to higher levels of education.” Sakaja claimed.
Dishi na County was launched in 2023 with the ground breaking of 10 kitchens across the county with the first meal served on 28 Augusts 2023.
The special purpose account for the school feeding program was opened at the at a local bank with the Chief Officer for Health, Wellness, Nutrition and School Feeding Irene Muchoki being the signatories.
Further, it was established that the regulations were put in place for the policy framework and legal guidelines to legitimise the Sh5 that every kid has been paying is yet to be approved by the assembly even though they have given it to the government printer for printing.
This is against the set guidelines as the relevant committees at the assembly need to go through it before the county legal team approves and then takes it for printing.
This casts doubt on the funds’ accountability, with the health committee calling for proper and transparent management of the program.
In September 2023 the French government donated 1million Euros to help the county build kitchens for the program and also pay for kids unable to pay the Sh5 that is charged per meal.
