Students may fail to reopen due to famine-MP King'ang'i

 Mbeere South Member of Parliament Geoffrey King'ang'i has expressed fears that students may fail to reopen schools due to famine in his constituency.

He called on the National Government to consider providing relief foods to the schools in the area as they have run out of stock owing to the current drought situation in the country.

Speaking while issuing bursary cheques in Kiritiri, the legislator said some parts of the constituency such as Kiambere, Mavuria, Makima and Mwea Wards were the hardest hit as farmers made no harvest after the long rains failed this year.

“Students in these affected areas are in dire need of food aid and we are asking the government to consider sending part of the relief food here,” the MP said. 

He said locals in these areas have adversely been affected by hunger and that there was a need for the government to intervene.

King’ang’i also called on the area County Government (Embu) to supplement the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) bursary kitty to ensure more needy students benefit.

Covid-19

Owing to the economic hardships occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic that has seen many families lose their livelihoods, King’ang’i said the demand for education bursaries had gone up and the CDF bursaries kitty alone was not enough to cater for the soaring numbers.

The MP disbursed bursaries worth Sh. 17Million to needy students in the area noting that the number of applicants had more than doubled from 4, 000 last year to 8, 700 this year.

This, he said, called for concerted efforts from other stakeholders including the County Government to ensure no needy cases are locked out on account of unavailability of funds.

He noted that they had to reduce the amount given to each student to ensure at least a big chunk of the applicants got something small to offset their school fees.

The MP said university students received Sh. 5, 000 this year down from Sh. 10, 000 while that of college students also reduced by half from Sh. 8, 000 to Sh. 4, 000.

Day secondary school students, he said, received Sh. 2, 000 down from Sh. 3, 000 last year while their counterparts in boarding schools got Sh. 3, 000 from Sh. 5, 000 last year.

“What we are giving is very little and that is why we are asking the County Government to step in and supplement our effort to ensure as many needy cases possible benefit,” said the MP.

STORY By BRIAN MUSYOKA, EDITED By MUSYOKA NGUI