BY TALARUS CHESANG
Baringo Central Member of Parliament Joshua Kandie has urged the government to quickly embark on the School Feeding Programme (SFP) in order to retain children in school.
He noted with concern that the situation has reached crisis level saying thousands of children especially in the Arid and Semi-Arid (ASAL) regions in Kenya are likely to drop out of school in masses due to hunger.
“It is quite embarrassing and paining that instead of concentrating in class, our children especially in Baringo end up bending down to sleep on their desks owing to empty stomachs”, Kandie said.
He spoke during the launch of five modern classrooms constructed through National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) at Kasore Primary school in his constituency.
Alongside building modern classrooms, Kandie also donated a 10,000 litres plastic tank to assist the school harvest rain water.
Now the old school established back in 1976 only requires an administration block, standard toilets and perimeter fencing to be stable.
Kandie said the feeding program shall help the children in the remote areas catch up with the other learners in other endowed parts of the parts of the country.
He was backed by nominated MCA Francisca Cheburet who said the majority of the children fail to return to school in the afternoon as they go to assist their parents hunt for water and wild fruits to feed on.
“Beside food shortage, it is sad also to note the local residents in most parts of Baringo in this century still trek miles of kilometers to fetch water downstream”, Cheburet said.
Apart from school feeding, Kandie also appealed to the government to consider distributing relief food to feed the hungry population in Baringo and its environs.
The legislator said most poor families experience difficulty raising and even taking their children to school.
He said the acute hunger situation was aggravated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic which struck the country in March last year.
