Kenya Insights

Tag: Dishi

  • Sh144M Donor’s Money Missing From Sakaja’s ‘Dishi Na County’ School Food Program

    Sh144M Donor’s Money Missing From Sakaja’s ‘Dishi Na County’ School Food Program

    Woes surrounding Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja appear to be far from over after it emerged that his administration cannot account for Sh 144 million from donors’ contributions towards the school feeding program dubbed Dishi Na County.

    An oversight committee yesterday heard that the money in question was contributed by the French Government to help support the program launched by Governor Sakaja in October 2023.

    County Executive Committee (CEC) for Health Su- san Silantoi told the Nairobi County Assembly Health Committee chaired by Mountain View MCA Maurice Ochieng that the County is yet to put in place regulations for the Dishi na County funds.
    She also said that there has not been any direct exchange of funds between the county and the donor.

    “We submitted regulations of the fund to the assembly in December but were told they have to go to the delegated committee first, so up to now they have not been approved,” Silantoi added.

    The donor funds were paid to the Food for Education Foundation, a non profit organisation which is the implementing partner in charge of the Dishi na County program that also operates in other counties.

    Nairobi City County CEC Health Susan Silantoi appears before the Health Committee, led by Mountain View MCA Maurice Ochieng, to discuss the operations and accounts of the Dishi na County Program. Photo/Samson Wire

    Under the Nairobi Program, the County contributes
    Sh25 for every child while parents have to contribute Sh5 for every child. Another Sh15 is contributed by the fund’s partners and well wishers.

    The Chief Executive Officer of the Dishi na County program Wawira Nyambura told the committee that the Sh144million were received as a donation to 25,000 children who are unable to pay five shillings.
    Nyambura said the organisation receives contributions on a daily basis from Kenyans and well wishers but could only disclose the amount donated by the French government and specifically for Nairobi County.

    “We have received money for the 25,000 children that we had proposed meals for from the French Government which is one million Euros the rest of the money is not for Nairobi,” she said.

    Signing of the 1M€ support from the French government towards the #Dishinacounty program in 2023 aimed at contributing to promote access and retention of students in school, especially girls, improve learning, health and student nutrition and support local food systems and markets.
    Signing of the 1M€ support from the French government towards the #Dishinacounty program in 2023 aimed at contributing to promote access and retention of students in school, especially girls, improve learning, health and student nutrition and support local food systems and markets.

    County programe

    Nyambura added, “Our donors are everywhere,we have everyday Kenyans who are contributing,”
    The contributions are made through a technology called Tao to Eat which the organisers says makes it easy to validate thousands of children within a short time.

    The Dishi na County program in Nairobi produces 184,000 meals per day against an enrollment of 360,000 children which means more than half of the children have no access to the meals. Initially,the county targeted to produce 250,000 meals per day.

    The Health CEC revealed that the county has so far used Sh623million on the feeding program.

    The committee members insisted that the county must produce details of all donor funds and other well wishers contributions to the programme but the CEC said only the implementing partner can.

    She said that currently, the County used the PFM Act 2012 to set up the fund but the county can only have full control once the assembly approves proposed regulations.

    This casts doubt on the accountability of the funds with the committee chairman questioning why the county did not bring the said regulations before the health committee which is mandated to oversight the program.

    The CEC only clarified how the 45 shillings per child is costed. “The 45 shillings includes the cost of ingredi- ents, transport, logistics, payment of staff, running of kitchens so everything is encompassed,” she said

    The Dishi na County CEO on the other hand added that the meals provided are a balanced diet.
    The program has been resisted by some parents who have questioned the standards of the means being cooked for their children.

  • Babu Owino Outs Nairobi Governor Sakaja As Gay

    Babu Owino Outs Nairobi Governor Sakaja As Gay

    Call it dirty linen washing Friday, Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino and Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja declared violence on X (formerly Twitter) over the weekends going for each other’s neck by engaging in a war of words that saw the two politicians holding nothing back as they accused each other of drug addiction.

    At one point Babu appeared to out the governor as being an LGBTQ member when he referred to him as ‘Team Rainbow ?’ ‘anakulwa matako (he’s getting banged)’ in the heat of the moment. “You have stolen a lot from Nairobi county and addicted to alcohol and Bhang. You are advised to stop being a girlfriend we have more than enough ladies in Kenya.” Babu said. Sakaja swung back claiming to have slept with the MP’s wife in a subtle comeback, “I think someone in your house will vehemently refute the rainbow claims you’re making.”

    All these came after the Nairobi governor was ranked bottom ten in the latest report on the governor’s scorecard angering Owino who took issue with the Governor’s performance

    “Sakaja is an embarrassment to the People of Nairobi. How can you be ranked last out of 47 Counties? Kazi ni Kuiba pesa Za Nairobi County and buying Houses in America, London, and Dubai,” Stated Babu.

    Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino.

    The report however was dismissed by Sakaja who claimed to have achieved more than he had been credited for. Sakaja went on to list some of the transformations the city under the sun had undergone under his leadership.

    Corruption

    He said that he has increased ward-based projects to Ksh.23 million per ward from Ksh.17 million, built markets, and restarted projects stalled for the last 6 years among other projects.

    Owino took a swipe at Sakaja dismissing his sentiments as pure lies saying that the figures had been cooked.

    “Stop lying you gave MCAs 1200 bursary forms at 5k each which amounts to 6 million shillings, not Ksh.23M which you are claiming. Every ward is supposed to get 23m shillings per year for bursaries, where’s the Ksh.17M shillings per ward for 85 wards= Ksh.1.4B shillings?” Stated Owino.

    The accusation however did not settle well with Nairobi Governor Sakaja who came out to defend himself while accusing Owino of being high on drugs.

    “If you removed the white stuff you are stuffing up your nose, you’d realize there’s a difference between bursaries and Ward-based Development Funds (WDF), Bursaries are Ksh.7M per ward (85 wards). (Ksh.2.5M term 1, Ksh.2.5M term 2, and Ksh.2M term 3). Up from Ksh.4.5M. Every ward is getting WDF of Ksh.23 million for Development not bursaries. Up from Ksh.17M.” stated Sakaja.

    Babu, was ready to go lower with Sakaja coming directly for him

    “You said in your previous post that you gave bursaries worth Ksh.23M shillings in every ward. You are nothing in the intellectual parlance hence should stop misusing numbers, we are not in TEAM-building activities. You have stolen a lot from Nairobi County and addicted to alcohol and Bhang,” fired Owino.

    “For the white stuff, I stopped its consumption but you are advised to stop being a girlfriend we have more than enough ladies in Kenya. Catfish. The day you went for liposuction you also melted your brain cells.”

    Sakaja dismissed Owino’s claims that he had stopped using cocaine accusing him of embezzling funds. “ I used to drink alcohol, smoke bhang and did cocaine. I stopped all these on the 18th January 2020. Now let’s talk about your addiction to alcohol, tobacco and Bhang. You drink till you urinate in your pants. You need to be in rehab not in Nairobi county.” Stated Babu.

    “You’re clearly still high. You stopped when? A few minutes ago? Stop completely bro, cocaine will ruin you. Which post did I mention Ksh.23M per ward for bursaries? Show us,”

    “Again, visit any of our facilities including Tassia Kwa Ndege, where I’ve reclaimed land stolen under your watch as MP. Visit them and you’ll get support against cocaine addiction. We’ve also built the first rehab at Sinai, VIWANDANI. ‘’he said.

    Sh50M bribe to Ruto

    Babu had a lot to say on the Tassia land saga, “The land in TASSIA belongs to Mr. Abdullahi, he bought it from NSSF and has a Title for it. You have an interest in the land which you want to grab from him for refusing to bribe you. You came to Parklands police station to gain political mileage coz either way I was taken to court and acquitted. As for THEFT of Public resources,why were you raided by the DCI, you went to meet Ruto in Kwale county with 50m which he refused to take,still raided the day after. You flew to London to avoid being arrested and to beg Baba to rescue you. Your CECs and Chief Officers have recorded statements at the Dci headquarters. The file is already with the EACC awaiting your Prosecution. You have eaten more than the owner can notice. You paid 2B to companies for jobs not done. You collect 5/- from parents in Nairobi in the name of school feeding program yet the program is budgeted for by the national government. You demand bribes from developers daily.”

    School Feeding Program ‘Dishi’

    The Twitter war between the two leaders stretched to Monday when Sakaja’s feeding program for school kids in Nairobi failed to take off forcing kids to go hungry in different schools. Babu took the opportunity to further hammer his opponent whom he now sarcastically refers to as ‘her excellency’.

    https://x.com/hebabuowino/status/1703742979838513434?s=46&t=KazQmrLjpJYvkoNP81WxiA

    The governor however refuted the claims saying the program was on course.

    https://x.com/sakajajohnson/status/1703782660089290854?s=46&t=KazQmrLjpJYvkoNP81WxiA

    It was after the reply that many including Babu challenged the governor to post a video showing the kids eating from their schools but he didn’t post instead, he fired a salvo by replying to Babu with a video of the shooting incident involving DJ Evolve which many read as escapism. Numerous reports indicated that the feeding program failed to take off on Monday making the governor to resort to sideshows and propaganda to mask his failure.

    https://x.com/sakajajohnson/status/1703822328063291594?s=46&t=KazQmrLjpJYvkoNP81WxiA

     

    The war between the two Nairobi leaders comes as the two of them eye to contest for the Nairobi Gubernatorial seat in 2027, with Owino eyeing to replace Sakaja and Sakaja looking forward to defending his seat.