Chokoras need more than chapatis, Mathenge tells Itumbi

State House’s Director of Digital Communication, Dennis Itumbi treated, Nairobi street kids to a rare meal — chapati and juice — over the Easter holiday.

And while many have applauded Itumbi, Joseph Mathenge, the CNN award-winning journalist, feels chapatis were the last thing the homeless kids needed.

“They tell me they eat chapati everyday and what they wanted from them was a lasting solution to their plight. We should talk about clothing, sheltering and educating them,” said Mathenge who founded the Joseph Mathenge Journalism Initiative to rehabilitate street children.

Itumbi who was celebrating his birthday on March 29 claimed he was obeying the spiritual instruction to share with the poor.

Mathenge however faulted the chapati movement for failing to do its homework on the street children to “understand that they operate within zones and that there is no way those from peripheries of the city can cross over to the city centre and vice-versa.”

Mathenge also took issue with Chief Justice Dr Willy Mutunga for failing to recognise the provision of the Children’s Act when he invited the celebrated street boy Morris Mwenda to his office.

“He is the custodian of the law, but it never crossed his mind that the boy is a minor and in accordance with the law, should be in the care of his parents — which is why he should push for operationalisation of that Act” insisted Mathenge.

City Hall has allocated Sh200 million for the construction of a rehabilitation centre in Ruai, a project that is yet to be completed.

Mathenge claims the county has failed in its mandate.

“That was just ego. It is the same thing like foreigners who visit the country to take photos with the poor in the slums” claims Mathenge.

Itumbi says he organised the chapati movement as an“individual and not on behalf of the government.