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"๐–๐„ ๐–๐ˆ๐‹๐‹ ๐„๐๐’๐”๐‘๐„ ๐Œ๐”๐Š๐”๐Œ๐” ๐†๐ˆ๐‘๐‹๐’ ๐‡๐ˆ๐†๐‡ ๐’๐‚๐‡๐Ž๐Ž๐‹ ๐‘๐„๐‚๐‹๐€๐ˆ๐Œ๐’ ๐ˆ๐“๐’ ๐‹๐Ž๐’๐“ ๐†๐‹๐Ž๐‘๐˜,โ€ ๐‚๐’ ๐Œ๐€๐‚๐‡๐Ž๐†๐” ๐“๐„๐‹๐‹๐’ ๐’๐„๐๐€๐“๐„

"๐–๐„ ๐–๐ˆ๐‹๐‹ ๐„๐๐’๐”๐‘๐„ ๐Œ๐”๐Š๐”๐Œ๐” ๐†๐ˆ๐‘๐‹๐’ ๐‡๐ˆ๐†๐‡ ๐’๐‚๐‡๐Ž๐Ž๐‹ ๐‘๐„๐‚๐‹๐€๐ˆ๐Œ๐’ ๐ˆ๐“๐’ ๐‹๐Ž๐’๐“ ๐†๐‹๐Ž๐‘๐˜,โ€ ๐‚๐’ ๐Œ๐€๐‚๐‡๐Ž๐†๐” ๐“๐„๐‹๐‹๐’ ๐’๐„๐๐€๐“๐„

The Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Education Hon. Ezekiel Machogu has today informed the Senate that his Ministry is doing all it can to ensure Mukumu Girls High School becomes among the top ten schools in the country.

While appearing before the August House for his inaugural question time, CS Machogu

informed the Honorable Senators that his Ministryโ€™s quality assurance team has already undertaken an assessment of the school and provided specific recommendations to guide the schoolโ€™s management, which the Ministry will duly implement.ย 

Here is an excerpt of how CS Machoguโ€™s inaugural question time in the Senate Chamber panned out earlier this morning:ย 

๐’๐ž๐ง. (๐ƒ๐ซ.) ๐๐จ๐ง๐ข ๐Š๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฅ๐ž (๐Š๐š๐ค๐š๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐š): Could the Cabinet Secretary state remedial actions the Ministry has taken to allow for the resumption of learning in Mukumu Girls High School in Kakamega County following the suspected contamination of food and water that resulted in the death of four (4) students and one (1) teacher and the hospitalization of more than one hundred students in various hospitals within the County?

๐‡๐จ๐ง. ๐„๐ณ๐ž๐ค๐ข๐ž๐ฅ ๐Œ๐š๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ ๐ฎ: The management of the school has since been changed and, so, we have a new principal and Board of Management in place. Secondly, all the school water storage and piping system has been flushed out, cleaned, redesigned and upgraded to avoid leakages.

The Ministry has also sunk a new borehole in the school compound across the road making the water supply adequate for the schoolโ€™s needs. In addition, the Ministry in collaboration with the Red Cross are providing counselling services to students, teachers, support staff and parents in the school.ย 

๐’๐ž๐ง. (๐ƒ๐ซ.) ๐๐จ๐ง๐ข ๐Š๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฅ๐ž (๐Š๐š๐ค๐š๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐š): What support has the Ministry given to families of the deceased, particularly, in meeting the cost of treatment, where applicable, and burial?

๐‡๐จ๐ง. ๐„๐ณ๐ž๐ค๐ข๐ž๐ฅ ๐Œ๐š๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ ๐ฎ: The Ministry through the Edu Afya Insurance Policy catered for the cost of treatment of the 109 students in various health facilities that they were admitted to. The deceased families are entitled to a group life insurance compensation of Ksh400,000 per student and they will soon be paid.ย 

๐’๐ž๐ง. (๐ƒ๐ซ.) ๐๐จ๐ง๐ข ๐Š๐ก๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฅ๐ž (๐Š๐š๐ค๐š๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐š): Does the Ministry intend to compensate families affected by the suspected contamination?

๐‡๐จ๐ง. ๐„๐ณ๐ž๐ค๐ข๐ž๐ฅ ๐Œ๐š๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ ๐ฎ: As I have indicated, the Ministry paid the cost of treatment for the learners who fell sick following the contamination. The families of the deceased students will be paid Ksh400,000 per student. The Ministry will also continue to provide psycho-social support to the affected families and students.ย 

๐’๐ž๐ง. ๐Š๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข ๐Œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ข (๐Œ๐ž๐ซ๐ฎ): How are you going to make sure that all schools in the country have access to clean water so that what happened in Mukumu Girls doesnโ€™t happen again?ย 

๐‡๐จ๐ง. ๐„๐ณ๐ž๐ค๐ข๐ž๐ฅ ๐Œ๐š๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ ๐ฎ: If you look at the Governmentโ€™s allocation of money, there is money which is allocated for the school borehole development. However, since we donโ€™t have the necessary technical capacity and equipment to do the water boreholes, the money is given to the Ministry of Water. So, progressively, we are doing boreholes in conjunction with the Ministry of Water.ย 

๐’๐ž๐ง. ๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ญ ๐Œ๐š๐๐ณ๐š๐ฒ๐จ (๐Š๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ข): Kwanini ulichukua hatua ya kubeba chakula kibovu kutoka shule ya Mukumu na kukipeleka Bamburi Portland Cement Factory ili kiharibiwe, ilhali kampuni hiyo inahusika na simiti?ย 

๐‡๐จ๐ง. ๐„๐ณ๐ž๐ค๐ข๐ž๐ฅ ๐Œ๐š๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ ๐ฎ: According to the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) and Public Health, Bamburi is the only area where we have a good facility for the safe disposal of contaminated food. We do not have that kind of facility anywhere else in the country. Out of the experience we had in Mukumu, we are advising schools to stop buying food in large quantities that last the entire term to avoid contamination.ย 

๐’๐ž๐ง. ๐Œ๐จ๐ก๐š๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐‚๐ก๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž (๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐ฌ๐š๐›๐ข๐ญ): Umeweka mikakati gani ya kuhakikisha kuwa shule zote zinampangilio mzuri wa kuhifadhi chakula ili tusipate shida tuliyoipata shule ya Mukumu tena?ย 

๐‡๐จ๐ง. ๐„๐ณ๐ž๐ค๐ข๐ž๐ฅ ๐Œ๐š๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ ๐ฎ: I wish to inform this House that the Ministry has developed the safety standards manual for schools to provide guidelines for ensuring safe health conditions in the school environment. The manual requires that each school have a school safety committee that guides hygienic food handling practices.

๐’๐ž๐ง. ๐€๐š๐ซ๐จ๐ง ๐‚๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฒ๐จ๐ญ (๐Š๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ก๐จ): If these guidelines were already in place at the time of the incident in Mukumu, what then caused the breach and do you have further amendments to these guidelines to seal all the loopholes?ย 

๐‡๐จ๐ง. ๐„๐ณ๐ž๐ค๐ข๐ž๐ฅ ๐Œ๐š๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ ๐ฎ: I must admit that we have had a problem with the enforcement of these guidelines. Some of the excuses my officers have been giving are that they have not been able to move around schools to inspect. Thatโ€™s why I am giving my officers all the necessary support. So, as a Ministry, we are now following up on the enforcement of directives, guidelines and policies.