Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja Jmet with C40 network representatives led by its director Mark Watts at City Hall, Nairobi to deliberate on how to address garbage menace.
The main agenda of the meeting was to deliberate on measures to eliminate and tackle solid wastage in the county’s markets and help traders minimize losses due to wastage.
After the meeting, Sakaja led the C40 team in an inspection tour at City Park Market, where solar-powered cold room storage has been installed.
The cold room is expected to serve more than 160 traders and help mitigate hundreds of tones of organic waste from the market annually.
While emphasising the importance of the initiative, Governor Sakaja revealed plans to expand it to markets around the city.
“As we continue to build more markets facilities around the City, this initiative is a part of our broad efforts to modernise markets in the city, reduce wastage, and improve food security in Nairobi.
The initiative will help our traders preserve their perishable goods while the consumers get fresh commodities,” Sakaja said.
Watts stated that the Cold Room Storage initiative will be very beneficial to traders and less expensive to maintain.
“Being a solar-powered initiative, the traders will not incur electricity bills, making it cost-effective.
This will also ensure the market is environmentally friendly without gas emissions and solid wastage.” Watts added.
The traders were happy with these interventions the county is undertaking, saying it’s timely and efficient.
“We can now restock without worrying about how we will preserve our goods.
We have a place to store our goods.
This will give us a better timeline for selling them.
Our customers will also be guaranteed fresh goods,” Mama Mbugua, a trader representative, noted.
Later, the governor and C40 representatives visited Farasi Lane Primary School, where they served food to the children courtesy the Dishi na County initiative.
The initiative that feeds 310,000 school learners daily is a program to enhance food security in Nairobi County.
Over 310,000 students in all public primary schools in Nairobi City County get hot, nutritious meals through the Dishi Na County Program from seventeen (17) central kitchens located in every sub-county.
A good example is Lavington Primary School, which gets well-balanced meals for its students for just five shillings per child.
The number of students enrolling in the school has increased, and students’ overall academic success has improved.
Children’s nutrition is a big part of the Dishi Na County Program because a healthy kid is more likely to do well in school, focus better, and behave well in general.
By giving children healthy meals, Dishi Na County has made the school a good place to learn and help them grow and succeed.
The Dishi Na County Program has benefited parents in addition to students.
Parents now relax, knowing that their kids are fed and prepared to learn.
Also, the families now face less financial burden, particularly those who are struggling to make ends meet due to the subsidised cost.
