Nairobi, Kenya| Isiolo County MP Mumina Bonaya has met Education cabinet secretary Ezekiel Machogu to seek redress regarding the worsening drought situation in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands(ASAL) region of Northern Kenya. The most affected so far are Isiolo and Wajir with Isiolo even declaring a state of emergency to the effect.
Ms. Bonaya was accompanied by Mr. Joseph Samal who is the member of the national assembly representing Isiolo North, Wajir West MP Yussuf Farah and Isiolo County Parents Association chairperson Galma Ismail.
At the closed door meeting, Ms. Bonaya requested the Education ministry headed by CS Machogu to ensure the school feeding program which targets learners in primary schools is “well-resourced” and “effected in time to ensure learners remain in school”.
She stated that the program ”serves as safety net” during such “extraordinary” times where local pastoralists are still struggling with “drought-related challenges” as the expected long rains fell short of the expected target.
This left large swathes of grazing lands in drought state as the rains received wasn’t enough to allow growth of ample pasture for their livestock.
The delegation further requested the CS to ‘help’ them mobilize funds to extend the school feeding program to the boarding secondary schools as a ‘temporary measure’ which they say will keep the institutions ‘afloat’.
This, according to the legislators, is because the parents may not be in a position to clear school levies in time as a result of the drought situation.
The uneven rainfall that fell in some parts of the region further complicated issues as several heads of livestocks succumbed to sudden change in weather while several other hundreds lost to flash floods.
Ms. Bonaya, who knows her way around the ministry being the erstwhile Cabinet Administrative Secretary(CAS) in the Education Ministry, has also called on CS Machogu to ensure the funding for low-cost boarding schools in the ASALs be released with immediate effect.
The legislator further urged the ministry to ensure that the sanitary pads program for girls in primary schools continues to be implemented. The program, she emphasized, ‘has proved instrumental in ensuring the 100% transition’, an initiative she started during her time at the ministry.
Ms. Bonaya has assured the local community of her unyielding support during these challenging times and says she will ‘continue knocking on every door to solicit support that will, in the least, reduce the impact of the current hard economic times ocassioned by the raving drought in the ASAL region’.
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