Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja has promised to pay lunch for all Nairobi primary school students if he is elected the fourth governor in this year’s General Election.
This according to Sakaja will increase enrolment, and retention rates as well as help to reduce cases of absenteeism of children who miss school due to lack of food at public primary schools in Nairobi.
“Once elected, every public primary in Nairobi will have free lunch paid for by the government,” Sakaja said.
Sakaja who is eying to unseat governor Anne Kananu in this year’s General Election said the move is part of a wider programme to eradicate streets children in the capital.
Sakaja who was speaking in Roysambu on Monday, April 15, said the majority of the children in Nairobi are out of school due to a lack of food at home, a move that has locked them out of school.
“There are more children not in school in Nairobi than they are in Turkana County and why many of them are not in school ni kwa sababu hakuna chakula nyumbani (it is because there is no food at home),” Sakaja said.
Sakaja who is running on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) is expected to face off with Azimio’s Polycarp Igathe in Nairobi city gubernatorial race.
This comes less than a month after the National Assembly’s Education committee rejected a Bill that sought to return the school milk programme for pre-primary and primary public schools.
While the committee said school feeding programmes are important for growing both enrolment and nutrition, the programme was too demanding and that such plans must be backed by a policy.
