Dear Sir,
The abrupt closure of schools was an unprecedented move that caught many of the school heads unawares thus jostling their plans and budgets.
They were caught with large stocks of food mostly grains as they had planned for full-term rations thus buying in bulk. The worry is having no idea about when this Covid 19 pandemic will end for schools to resume, these stocks of food might go bad, resulting in huge losses at the cost of the parents.
Many of these parents are among the people the government is trying to cushion through a stimulus package to keep the economy running. These are the people who are faced with imminent hunger as they have been laid off from jobs, or got salary cuts. The President, through the Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund, has directed them to work with every ministry and Kenyans at large to pool resources both in-kind and cash.
This gives you an opportunity to liaise with the school heads through subcounty education officers to know the amount of grains in stocks across the country. These grains can be bought by MPs through the NG –CDF emergency fund or the Governor’s kitty or directly by Covid 19 fund to be distributed to needy families within the respective constituencies.
The heads of school can bank the monies until the situation normalises and schools re-open. By doing this, we will be mitigating the Covid 19 impact by feeding the poor and preventing losses.
This will also help in preventing the spread of the virus by reducing the number of people going out to search for casual jobs to feed their families.
Gideon Gachara
Gitaru ward, Kiambu county
