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Parents from the sprawling Kiandutu slums and other informal settlements in Thika, Kiambu County have raised concern and expressed anguish over high cost of living that has left them reeling and unable to support the education of their children.

Josephine Njoki, a mother of eight children who was abandoned by her husband over the huge parenting task, has been left to bear the entire load of feeding, educating and sheltering all her children, some of whom have been struggling with various ailments since birth.

With the persistent high cost of living in the country that has seen many households struggle to make ends meet, Njoki who survives on menial jobs has been left to solely fight for the survival of her children.

Coupled with inflationary pressures occasioned by among others high food and fuel prices, rising taxes, and a weak currency, Njoki regretted that educating her children has become a pipe dream.

Thika MP on bursary allocation

Speaking after she received a bursary cheque from Thika MP Alice Ng’ang’a to support the education of one of her children, Njoki called on policymakers to urgently come up with strategies to address the cost-of-living challenge that is at the verge of cornering most parents.

“I am grateful to the MP for the allocation although this is not enough to see my children go through their education.

“With eight children and having been abandoned by my husband, I have a daunting task of educating my little ones from the casual jobs that I do,” Njoki said.

Njoki’s sentiments were echoed by Lucy Nyambura who survives by menially washing clothes whenever the job is available.

Nyambura who lauded the MP for the financial support regretted that with the high cost of living that has severely affected her purchasing power, life has become unbearable and called on the government to immediately address the plight of the downtrodden who can no longer live decently.

On her part, MP Ng’ang’a who spoke during the climax of a three-day Ksh50 million bursary cheques issuance activity to beneficiaries regretted that the population of Thika has continued to rise but the resources allocated to locals remains limited.

“Since 2013 when I was the MP here, the population of this area has continued to increase but the resources are the same.

“It is time that we exercise equity when it comes to the education of our children. I am pursuing equalization of bursary funds for all learners for uniformity and all fairness,” stated the MP.

The lawmaker rooted for creation of a bursary kitty, separate from the NG-CDF allocation and one that will see Kenyan learners equally benefit compared to the current ‘unfair’ setup where students from some constituencies receive full scholarships while others struggle to pay school fees.

She insisted that populous constituencies should be given special considerations when it comes to allocation of funds for fairness purposes.

The legislator vowed to pursue increment of the bursary kitty in the upcoming years.