MPs probe controversial transfer of Sh3 billion school feeding programme from the Ministry of Education to the NDMA, a recent development geared at reducing school dropouts in the Arid and Semi-Arid areas; the programme was initially managed by the National Council for Nomadic Education in Kenya. The transfer has generated a lot of debate and controversy around its management and the probable effect it may have on the recipient areas.
1. Background of the School Feeding Programme
The school feeding initiative is another very important intervention in terms of keeping children in school by providing meals, particularly in some of the poorest counties and slums. This is at the moment implemented in 26 marginalised counties that have high dropout rates, which guarantee these children one healthy meal a day while at school.
2. Budgetary Changes and Concerns
The transfer of the programme to NDMA was captured in the Supplementary Budget currently before parliamentary scrutiny. The programme had an allocation of Sh3 billion for the current financial year. Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang termed the transfer an illegality and called for the programme to stay within the Ministry of Education to align it with other school-going initiatives.
3. Parliamentary Probe
The transfer’s rationale is being probed by the National Education Committee led by the Member of Parliament for Tinderet, Julius Melly. MPs query why the programme was put in the supplementary budget without any notification and if NDMA has the capacity to manage it effectively. According to Melly, there was a need to make the procedure more elaborate in terms of transparency and consultations, and particularly with the Ministry of Education, before such major policy shifts.
4. Major Concerns Raised by MPs
4.1 Consultation Process
MPs, including Melly, sought to know whether the Ministry of Education was effectively consulted prior to the transfer of the programme.
4.2 Capability of NDMA
There were concerns on the capability of NDMA in running the programme relative to that of the Ministry of Education, which had structures in place for running such programmes.
4.3 Reasons for Transfer
MPs also demanded to know why the programme had been transferred from the education docket to NDMA.
5. Constituency-Specific Concerns by MPs
5.1 Narok MP Rebecca Tonkei
Tonkei has asked the National Treasury to be summoned to explain the reallocation of the funds, and fears that the transfer might raise the school dropout cases in marginalized areas.
5.2 Mandera North MP Haro Ebrahim
Ebrahim questioned the appropriateness of making a decision on such a major policy shift through a supplementary budget.
5.3 Nyamira Woman Representative Jerusha Momanyi
Momanyi has joined the jostling for the transfer, arguing that only the Ministry of Education is better equipped with the necessary infrastructure to deal effectively with the needs of deserving cases.
6. Financial Implications
Kipsang said the pending bill of the programme was Sh2.4 billion unsettled from the last financial year because of the issues in exchequer. He assured that, as obligated by the Public Finance Management Act No. 18 of 2012, this bill will still be fronted in the FY 2024/25 budgetary allocation.