No MoU for Nairobi’s Dishi na County, Gathungu reveals as she queries Sh5 paid by children

The Nairobi City County government is yet to sign a Memorandum of Understanding or any agreement with Food for Education over the provision of lunch meals for ECDE kids in public primary schools.

This has been revealed by the Auditor General, Nancy Gathungu in her 2023/24 financial year report.

Gathungu said she was not able to know how the company was engaged to provide the services.

“The Count Executive engaged Food for Education for the pilot exercise of the Dishi na County food programme. However, no agreement or memorandum of understanding was signed between the company and the County Executive. Therefore, the audit could not establish how the company was engaged to provide the services,” Gathungu states.

This is even as the auditor general raised questions on why the children are paying five shillings directly to Food for Education, yet in the Contract with the county, they receive the whole amount of Sh25.

Gathungu indicated that despite the contract showing the County pays Sh25 to Food for Education, the implementer earns Sh30 per place of the meal as the kids pay Sh5 to them directly.

“The review of invoices and payments made indicated that the organisation invoiced a total of Sh345, 961,676 at a rate of Kshs.25 per plate and was paid Kshs 262.262,167 during the financial year under review. However, it was noted that learners pay the organization an amount of Sh5 directly per plate for the meals provided, therefore, the County Executive should have paid the organization Sh20 per plate as part of the contract cost of Sh25. Instead, the County paid an amount of Kshs 25 for each plate served, resulting in the implementer earning an amount of Kshs 30 per plate instead of the contracted amount of Sh25,” Gathungu revealed in her report.

In the year under review, Gathungu stated that the donor money Sh145,725,000 by the French Embassy paid directly to the accounts of Food for Education in support of 25,000 vulnerable kids could not ascertain the accountability of the funds as there were no management measures established by the Sakaja government.

“The audit could not ascertain accountability of 1,005,000 euros, approximately Sh145,725,000 paid directly to the Food for Education by the French Embassy in support of 25,000 vulnerable children in public primary and ECDE. There were no established measures by the County Executive regarding the management of donations received, as there were no guidelines in place for handling such donations,” Gathungu remarked.

The revelations by Gathungu come against the backdrop of the Nairobi City County Assembly Committee for health led by Mountain View MCA Maurice Ochieng.

It was established that the regulations were put in place for the policy framework and legal guidelines to legitimize the Sh5 that every kid has been paying

It 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 it and then take it for printing.