President William Ruto has criticized the education lobby group that petitioned against the Nairobi county school feeding programme by Governor Johnson Sakaja.
While addressing Cabinet Secretaries (CSs) and Principal Secretaries (PSs) at State House, Nairobi county, on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, Ruto slammed the lobby group terming them as ‘bad people’.
The President also wondered why the group moved to court to halt the Ksh1.2 billion program dubbed ‘Dishi na County’ when it was ‘beneficial’ to needy school children.
“We have bad people. Some fellow went to court to stop us feeding hungry children. They went to court to stop a feeding program that would give children free meals. Someone has the moral fibre to go to court to stop it,” Ruto stated.
In the same breath, the Head of State applauded the Judiciary for declining to issue orders to suspend the programme.
“Luckily for us and unluckily for them (lobby group), they found some human people in court who told them that you cannot stop hungry children from having a meal,” Ruto added.
The president also commended Governor Sakaja for the initiative which he says will help children in informal settlements get meals in schools.
“I’m proud and want to congratulate Nairobi Governor because, finally, we have a framework approved by the Attorney General for us to work together to make sure many kids especially in informal settlements in Nairobi get meals in school,” Ruto stated.
Lobby group petitions
The Tunza Mtoto coalition had filed a petition at the High Court seeking orders to have the feeding programme suspended.
In the petition, the group led by its Executive Director Janet Muthoni Ouko, argued that Governor Sakaja was planning to fund a project that was not devolved.
The group also argued that the county boss and the Nairobi city county were launching the programme without public participation.
“The governor erred in launching the school feeding program. That is not a mandate of the counties rather it is the national government’s role l urge the court to temporarily suspend until the case is heard and determined,” Muthoni argued.
“No legal notice was ever published authorizing the transfer and delegation of powers, functions and competencies of the national government function in respect to primary schools to the County Government,” they argued.
However, on Thursday, July 27, 2023, Justice Mugure Thande quashed the plea pending the determination of the lawsuit.
In his ruling, Mugure noted that the petition was not in the best interest of the children who would benefit from the programme.
