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{
    "id": 1087982,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1087982/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 492,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Eng.) Hargura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 827,
        "legal_name": "Godana Hargura",
        "slug": "godana-hargura"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I thank Sen. Kwamboka for coming up with this amendment to the Basic Education Act. Without repeating what my colleagues have said, this is an important amendment because it will improve the nutritional value of food to our children. It is important for growing up and even for mental development. From experience, it has also been said that it could be a reintroduction of primary school milk which was there before. Its importance cannot be overemphasized especially in the pastoralist communities, where at an early age, families decide whether you will go to school or herd animals. It is at that age when children are trained to look after the calves and then graduate into herdsmen. With this kind of provision, it will attract the young ones to school. By the time they go through pre-primary and primary school, they will have left that part of training to be a herdsperson. This will go a long way to improve literacy levels in arid areas with pastoral communities, where sometimes families have to go to mobile camps with the children. That is the only way they can provide as they do not have enough to provide for part of the family at home while the other is in the bush. So, they carry the whole family. Sometimes it is a security risk especially during times of skirmishes and clashes. This will go a long way in retention of children in school and improve literacy levels. Madam Temporary Speaker, I know right now there are areas with donor funded school feeding programme as Sen. (Dr.) Ali said. The WFP does not even check what foods you need. They just give you what they think you need. Sometimes it does not contribute to improving the nutritional value of the food because it is not the kind of food that the children are used to. You may find them giving sorghum in those areas and those people do not even know how to cook it and it becomes a problem. However, in the case of milk, I support the aspect of even authorised procurement. Before my time is over, may I bring to the attention of Sen. Kwamboka about the issue of whether this is a money Bill or not. Last time, there was a Mediation Committee between the Senate and the National Assembly, what came out was that if you come up with an amendment to introduce one person in an institution, it is a money Bill because it increases the cost. Now, this will have direct financial implication. That is what we need to look at because it might be rejected on grounds that it is a money Bill."
}