The drama surrounding Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja and President William Ruto's ambitious pledge to introduce chapatis to schools in Nairobi made its way to the Senate on Thursday, March 14.
Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, on Thursday, March 14, took a swipe at Sakaja, accusing the governor of having misplaced priorities.
During Senate proceedings, Khalwale insisted that the country needed to embrace modern infrastructure, such as electric trains, which he argued would be a radical way to transform regional trade.
In his address, Khalwale also criticised Sakaja for the governor's recent tour with President William Ruto.
"Governors, you are not doing us a favour," Khalwale began. "I want to address the Governor of Nairobi. I can see you have lost focus. The purpose of the Governor of Nairobi is not to feed people; it is to open up the economy."
Khalwale continued, "The Governor of Nairobi should not be talking about chapatis. He should be talking about underpasses and overpasses. That is the future. The people you will employ in those areas will feed their children."
During a visit to St. Teresa Girls' Secondary School in Mathare on Tuesday, March 11, Sakaja addressed the students about the county's school feeding initiative, Dishi na County, where he agreed to include chapatis in the menu upon the students' request.
"Do you like Dishi na County? How is the food, and what do you want us to add? Chapati? Let me talk to the President so he can get us a chapati-making machine," Sakaja said.
In response, they pledged to support this request, committing to fund a machine capable of producing up to one million chapatis every day for the school feeding programme.
What followed was a wave of criticism of the President, with Kenyans taking to social media to mock the 'one million chapatis' plan.
In an open show of defiance, President Ruto and Sakaja have continued their Nairobi tour and were on Thursday spotted in Toi Primary School in Kibra Constituency. During their tour, the two leaders took the chance to serve students with chapatis, amid a spate of criticism.
Notably, this is not the first time Khalwale has gone after Sakaja over poor governance. In January 2024, Khalwale slammed his counterpart over the chaotic nature of the Capital's transport system and the increase in mugging cases reported in the Central Business District (CBD) in the recent past.
