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{
    "id": 1199187,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1199187/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 413,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mathioya, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Edwin Gichuki",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to address the House for a second time. First, I support the Motion on the school-feeding policy. The Motion was due. I do not want to repeat much that has been said by my colleagues, but I would just like to say one thing. Evidence has shown that because children in boarding schools get all meals, including breakfast, lunch and supper, they perform better than those in day schools, especially those in under-privileged day schools that do not have access to some of that food. I would like to maybe suggest one thing. I know the school-feeding programme is a short-term intervention measure. The key to ensuring that our children survive in schools is to build capacity for schools to also produce food. There is one Member who has said that schools have very big parcels of land, which is true. I remember in the 1990s and 2000s when we were in school, we used to produce our own food. We had cattle and we used to milk the cows for school milk, tea and other uses. We used to plant maize, beans and potatoes and the school was self-sufficient in terms of food. Looking at the history of this school feeding programme, we know that in the 1980s there was the Maziwa ya Nyayo programme which some of us were also privileged to be part of in our primary schools. I think that is why we used to perform better compared to some of the learners now because as we know milk provides a lot of the nutrients. The programme was cancelled by the late President Kibaki’s Government because of its cost. In March 2022, there was a Bill in this House, which was proposing to introduce free milk in pre- primary school and public primary schools. This House rejected the Bill because of the cost. I looked at the statistics and it was costing Kshs1 billion a week and Kshs36 billion annually because out of 53 weeks, I think the school programme is 36 weeks. Therefore, we need to look at the budget implication so that we do not go through all the stages and then realise there is no budget to support the programme. With that, I would also like to donate my time. I fully support this Motion."
}