Food benchmarking trips were noble and worth it, MP says

The National Assembly in session. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Laikipia West MP Wachira Karani said the committee would soon explain in a report what its members learnt on the trips to India, Ethiopia and the Netherlands.
  • The committee has been criticised over the trip and has also been faulted by MPs because of the quality of food at the restaurant in Parliament.
  • The Laikipia MP made the revelation as MPs discussed a motion by nominated MP Isaac Mwaura to have the government improve access to buildings for disabled people.

A member of the parliamentary Catering and Health Club Committee has defended the team’s three restaurant food benchmarking trips last year, saying they were undertaken for noble and worthy reasons.

Laikipia West MP Wachira Karani said the committee would soon explain in a report what its members learnt on the trips to India, Ethiopia and the Netherlands.

“We have several members with disabilities and we wanted to know how they are taken care of. I would like to correct the notion that we had gone for trivial reasons. We had gone for very noble grounds and when we present our reports you shall know that we went for a very good reason,” said Dr Wachira.

He said he was on the trip to India specifically.

The committee has been criticised over the trip and has also been faulted by MPs because of the quality of food at the restaurant in Parliament.

DELIVERING CHICKEN

Last week, one of its members, Dr Robert Pukose (Endebess, URP), raised the alarm after a motorcycle was photographed delivering chicken to the canteen where Parliament staff eat.

The Laikipia MP made the revelation as MPs discussed a motion by nominated MP Isaac Mwaura to have the government improve access to buildings for disabled people.

The Disability Act already provides for buildings and public transport to have the necessary facilities to make them accessible to the disabled, who use crutches, wheelchairs and walking sticks and find it difficult to enter most buildings.

Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi, whose uses a wheelchair, told his colleagues he has had problems getting into offices in Parliament.

“I have never been to the Speaker’s office because it is not accessible for the disabled. There are lifts but the new lifts are too small and not friendly for someone [in] a wheelchair. Two people cannot fit in one,” said Mr Wanyonyi.

Parliament has ramps at both entrances and special toilets for the disabled, but access to upper floors is evidently still difficult.