Members of the Senate Committee on Education on Tuesday, November 22, grilled Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu as they sought to establish the particulars of a Ksh800 million used by his ministry in a school feeding programme.
In his defence, Machogu noted that the entire amount was used to supply food to schools in different parts of the country.
He went on with a breakdown indicating that Ksh457 million was spent on buying rice, Ksh115 million on beans while Ksh43 million was spent on vegetable oil. Other expenses listed by the CS include Ksh2 million spent on salt.
“It compromises of rice worth Ksh457 million, beans worth Ksh115 million, vegetable oil worth Ksh43 million and salt worth Ksh2 million for the last one month in the ten counties,” he told the committee.
According to Machogu, the money was disbursed to the sub-county education directors who, in collaboration with county commissioners were tasked to oversee the implementation of the program.
However, the MPs raised questions regarding the accuracy of the report presented by the CS, amid claims by some lawmakers that the program was non-existent in their constituencies.
Nominated MP Peris Tobiko noted that she was yet to see signs of the program being implemented in her county as alluded to by the CS.
Her sentiments were echoed by fellow nominated Senator Margret Kamar who sought more clarity regarding the effectiveness of the plan.
She also noted that counties identified as the most hit by the ongoing drought had been left out of the list of beneficiaries.
“I am also very sceptical because your list does not show if the schools got the food, this is a list showing the requirements of the school, can you tell us where the taxpayers’ money has gone,” she stated.
“All the Senators have said that this program is not in their counties, you are insisting it is happening, but we are not seeing it on the ground, where is it?”
The school feeding program was introduced by the CS as one of the rafts of measures adopted to tackle the ravaging drought in the country. CS Machogu, while launching the program noted that it was a product of a partnership between various stakeholders in the country.
