Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja on Thursday reaffirmed his dedication to a county-wide college feeding program consistent with his marketing campaign promise.
Sakaja spoke when he hosted Her Royal Highness Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan when she made a courtesy call visit to the governor.
The governor said the programme will target public schools that are heavily impacted by urban poverty which is a major disruption in school attendance.
Sakaja welcomed the partnership by World Food Programme under Princess Sarah in supporting the feeding programme and increased nutrition in the country adding the initiative is a welcome gesture.
“We have been piloting the project in a few schools in Nairobi and have seen attendance in school has gone up by 100 percent while performance has also improved by over 60% in the schools we have partnered with,” the Governor said.
Princess Sarah said she is focused on increasing nutrition for urban residents which in effect also increases output and plays a major role in wealth creation.
She added that WFP will be willing to partner with Nairobi county in proving technical support for the school feeding programme.
“Such kind of initiatives are an important safety net that help in fighting hunger and increase nutrition amongst our population,” Princess Sara added.
The Governor said he has also had a discussion with President-Elect William Ruto on the school feeding programme and he got assurances that the national government will roll out a national school feeding programme once the new administration has been sworn in.
“The national government under Kenya Kwanza will undertake to finance and roll out the feeding programme countrywide and will depend on Nairobi County for learning lessons,” Sakaja added.
General Badi, Director General Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) added that his office has managed to improve health services in Nairobi by setting up 8 new health facilities in Nairobi and renovating about 10 more to ensure residents receive efficient and quality health service.
NMS is in the process of handing over all the health centers and other projects to the new Nairobi county administration led by Sakaja.
Princess Sara expressed her gratitude to the government of Kenya for being part of a global initiative where governments have taken the step in feedings its own people through fascial allocation specific to feeding school-going children and increasing nutrition and fighting the high mortality rate around the globe.
“I am happy that Kenya just signed the global initiative where governments are owning up the initiative and focusing on feeding its population,” she added.
Sakaja also said that his administration is looking at leveraging on technology to provide solutions to some of the issues affecting Nairobi residents.
“We are going to set up a hacker centre in Nairobi which will be open to all young people who we shall partner with in offering solutions to some of our issues,” he added.
Princess Sarah Zeid is WFP’s global ambassador for nutrition and maternal health and is in the country to visit some of the health and nutrition projects in Nairobi.
The visit is an opportunity for the princess to experience first-hand impact of the draught and advocate for additional funding from global partners.
