Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja is staring at a lawsuit over his administration’s plan to spend Sh800 million to provide free lunches for learners in public primary schools in the capital.
The Tunza Mtoto Coalition, an education lobby, has faulted the governor for planning to spend money on a function that is not devolved. Tunza Mtoto Executive Director Muthoni Ouko said the group has already written to Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o asking her to reject county expenditure on mandates other than those devolved by the Constitution.
She said the school feeding programme, dubbed “Dishi na County”, will also entrench inequality as it only targets a section of needy learners in public primary schools while entirely neglecting those in non-formal schools.
Ms Ouko, who once headed the county’s Education docket under former Governor Mike Sonko, said there are more needy children in non-formal schools in Nairobi than there are in public primary schools.
She explained that, whereas there are only 205 public primary schools in Nairobi, there are over 3,000 non-formal schools with a high concentration in informal settlements such as Kibra, Mathare, Mukuru, Kibagare, Kiambiu, and Kawangware.
Ms Ouko cited an example of Njiru Ward, which has only two public primary schools against more than 15 non-formal schools that accommodate all the children who cannot be placed in the two schools.
No public primary schools
She added that there are some 10 wards in Nairobi without even a single public primary school such as Pipeline, Imara Daima, Ngando, Lindi, Laini Saba, Kware, Matopeni/Spring Valley, Saragombe and Lucky Summer.
“We shall move to court to seek orders stopping spending of Nairobi County funds in programmes that further marginalise the poorest of the poor in Nairobi,” said Ms Ouko.
“Children in non-formal schools are not (there) by choice but due to lack of space and the high cost associated with joining the formal education system,” she said.
Ms Ouko observed that, according to the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, primary education is not a devolved function but early childhood development education (ECDE) is.
She maintained that the huge investment would have been better utilised in establishing more ECDEs to help enrol more children to public schools, saying, the money can build eight schools annually at a cost of Sh100 million each.
She argued that, out of the 250,000 children of ECDE-going age in the capital, there is only space for 28,000 children in public ECDE centres, forcing the rest to attend non-formal centres or private schools where their parents struggle with levies despite paying taxes to the county.
Ms Muthoni observed that lack of school fees, rather than hunger, is the number one reason why Nairobi children are out of school.
“Feeding children in public school means that the governor will only be feeding 11.2 per cent of the population. From the foregoing, it is clear that the feeding programme will further be extending inequality and marginalisation that has for long been meted out on children who have been denied a chance to attend public schools,” she said.
She said that should the governor proceed with the free meals initiative that is set to commence in the third term, Tunza Mtoto will seek the Senate's intervention to ensure that the taxpayer gets value for money.
Further, she said, the group will petition the County Assembly and especial appeal to MCAs whose wards have no single public primary school and whose children will be mere onlookers in the initiative.
“We shall mobilise parents of the deprived children to mass action to avert a bad beginning to a seemingly rough five-year ride.”
