Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 806806,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/806806/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 16,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "West Mugirango, FORD-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Vincent Mogaka",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13508,
        "legal_name": "Vincent Kemosi Mogaka",
        "slug": "vincent-kemosi-mogaka"
    },
    "content": "In the schools in the rural areas, children report as early as 8.00 in the morning. They have to spend several hours in school. They spend not less than six hours in the morning and then leave in the afternoon to go to their homes to get lunch. In urban areas, for example, in the slums and also in the arid and semi-arid areas, that programme, which is known as a home- grown feeding programme was rolled out by the Government of Kenya in collaboration with the World Food Programme in 2009. However, that programme has not been universal. It has not been rolled out nationally. The programme of free primary school meals is not new in Kenya. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, when you and I were growing up, you can remember very well the era of Nyayo when we used to have the Maziwa kwa Wote Programme. Some like my colleague here, Mr. Gikaria, says they have never enjoyed that programme. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, you remember and I am very sure you were a beneficiary of that programme. We used to have that programme which was of much benefit to the children of this Republic. I remember very well when I was growing up. A class had about 20 pupils. When we heard that milk was coming, the following day, you would find a class with 50 pupils. So, what I am trying to say is that the issue of rolling out free meals to pupils will alleviate poverty and increase enrolment in our schools. You can agree with me that if a student or pupil is in class with an empty stomach, he/she will never concentrate on his/her studies. If we roll out that programme and the children of Kenya universally and throughout the Republic of Kenya are able to benefit, then I can assure you that even the school performance will go high. This programme has been supported by various policy documents by the Government of Kenya. The only problem is the implementation part of it. If you do a thorough search, you will find that the Republic of Kenya is so much coloured such that people who are accessing the internet and other search engines are convinced that this programme is good success in the Republic of Kenya. However, if you look at it internally, the programme is not felt in some parts of the country, while in some parts of the world, people are really applauding it. You will even find in the coming days people wanting to come and benchmark and see how successful the programme is. We wonder where they are going to benchmark because the programme has not been felt more particularly in the rural and poor areas. That is where our focus is. If the programme is implemented universally, the rural poor and our children in the rural homes will be able to access schools and the enrolment and performance will improve. By so doing, I assure you that we will be able to alleviate poverty in the Republic of Kenya. Food security is one of the Big Four Agenda that the President has set. I want to submit that if the programme is rolled out, then this will go along in solving the food security and also The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}