When he asked pupils at a school in Kibera what they would like, Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja did not expect them to chorus the most basic need, food.
He had visited the school armed with candies, presuming the children, like many experiences before, would ask for that.
“I was very surprised when they all chorused 'food for lunch'. I expected them to ask for footballs or sweets, not such a basic need,” Sakaja told the Star.
“When children tell you they want such a basic need instead of other leisure items, you understand that the situation is dire.”
The response propelled him to draft a new law, which will be tabled in Parliament in two weeks. The Tap2Eat drive seeks to ensure no schoolchild goes hungry.
The National School Lunch Bill, if passed, will make it mandatory for the government to make quality, low-cost meals available to pupils. All public and private schools will have to show how they intend to achieve that.
It will be implemented through a public-private partnership where select NGOs will be tasked with serving subsidised nutritious meals to promote the health and well-being of learners.
The document also details programme actualisation, accountability measures, private sector involvement and repercussions of misappropriation.
The legislator proposes that a pilot programme be started in Nairobi before it is rolled out nationwide.
“Urban poverty bites harder than rural poverty. In the city, you are on your own and that is why it is important we implement it here in Nairobi as soon as possible,” he said.
The programme could be similar to one already being implemented by Food For Education, an organisation that currently provides meals to 33,000 pupils in about 20 schools at a subsidised rate.
Food for Education founder Wawira Njiru first launched a pilot project in her hometown of Ruiru with the aim of providing cheap and nourishing lunches for primary school children from poor families.
Njiru runs a 24-hour kitchen where food is cooked at night and distributed in hot dishes to schools in trucks. Pupils pay Sh15 for a plate.
“The Sh15 is not paid in cash. It is paid via mobile phone and the data is stored in a wristband gadget given to the pupils. It uses near-field communication technology,” she said.
Senator Sakaja explained that the Tap2Eat wristband has a chip installed and connected to a virtual wallet which is simply tapped and the Sh15 deducted when a child eats.
The senator said he was informed by headteachers that many children missed school for days because they go looking for food with their parents.
“That’s why you find many engaged in business in the streets,” he said.
The legislator emphasised the direct relationship between hunger, attendance and academic performance.
“A headteacher confirmed to me that the children getting school lunch rarely miss school, perform better and are more disciplined than those who go without lunch,” he explained.
According to Sakaja, the new law will spur the economy and create employment as the food served will be sourced locally from farmers.
“Milk is being poured day in day out, cabbages rotting and maize left to develop aflatoxin. The government can buy these foods from farmers for the children,” he said.
He said Dagoretti South MP John Kiarie had already taken up the idea, adding that they will use emergency funds of between Sh7 million and Sh10 million to build a fully-fledged central kitchen using LPG, which he said is cheaper.
“Currently, briquettes are used mostly, but LPG would be cheaper and more efficient. Capital expenditure, especially for building the kitchen and buying equipment, must come from the government, but it will be self-sustaining,” he said.
Sakaja said the government, in partnership with NGOs, is able to comfortably support the programme.
“We are spending money on MCAs car grant, infrastructure and other things, we cannot lack funds for this project. Nothing is more fulfilling than the smiles on the faces of the children when this is done,” he said.
Similar legislation has been in force for more than 10 years in countries like the US and India.
The government allocates Sh1.6 billion to a programme that targets 1.5 million children, each child assigned Sh11 per day, but the funds have never been disbursed to schools.
Many schools formerly relied on meals provided by the World Food Programme, which targeted the poorest and most exposed children in arid, semi-arid and slum communities. With the exit of WFP in June 2019, the programme collapsed.
Belio Kipsang, the former Basic Education PS, in February last year told the Education Committee of the National Assembly that the free lunch is the only meal some children have in a day and incentivises them to go to school.
In 2018, the Ministry of Education said more than 850,000 children aged between six and 17 were out of school. In arid and semi-arid areas and informal settlements, six out of 10 were out of school.
Mandera topped the list of nine counties that accounted for the highest numbers with 124,000 children out of school. It was followed by Garissa, Wajir, Turkana, West Pokot, Isiolo, Marsabit, Tana River and Nairobi respectively.
Mandera accounted for 15 per cent of the children, Turkana 10 per cent, Garissa 8.9 per cent and Wajir 6.7 per cent.
A third of the children were living with disabilities, while others were girls from extremely poor households and broken families.
“The strength of a government is not the things you do for the big people, it is what you do for the most vulnerable,” Sakaja said.