Nairobi County Governor, Johnson Sakaja has clarified why his government settled on a restaurant to run the Nairobi County’s Children's food programme referred to as “Dishi na County.”
According to the governor, the organisation that runs the programme is registered as a restaurant as there was no description for School Feeding programmes on the drop-down menu at the National Government Business Registration Service (BRS).
He further clarified that the county had no authorisation to register businesses as it is a preserve of the national government.
“We don’t register businesses as they are registered by the National Govt BRS. The county issues licenses and permits for activities that an organisation is doing,” the governor explained in a series of messages with social media influencer Hanifa Farsafi.
Further, Sakaja stated that the county had subsided Ksh25 for the meals served to the students. Parents who weren’t able to cover the Ksh5 were also accorded help as 7-10 per cent of the amount was covered in partnership.
The governor was responding to questions raised by the County Senator, Edwin Sifuna who wondered why Food4Education, the company running the programme was registered as a restaurant.
He also clarified that the employees in the programme were purely from the organisation and none belonged to the county as alleged.
“Food4Education is an implementing partner to the County Govt. It is a different organisation with which we have a partnership agreement to run Dishi na County,” Sakaja stated.
According to the Senator, employees in the programme failed to adequately address questions posed to them about the legitimacy of the programme.
Food4Education is a non-profit organisation run by activist Wawira Njiru.
Wawira, in her philanthropy work, has won several accolades including the 2022 Global Icon Award by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, the 2021 Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, and the 2021 United Nations Kenya Person of the Year.
The activist has a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition and Food Science from the University of South Australia.
