A former presidential aspirant, Ambassador Esther Waringa, has drafted a bill proposing the exemption of tax on basic kitchen items to reduce the cost of living.
Ambassador Waringa said she came up with the affordable kitchen bill to cushion Kenyans from the skyrocketing prices of consumables including sugar, cooking oil, rice, flour, and cooking gas.
She said the proposed bill, which was at the Senate’s committee stage, will address the cost of living after the finance law came into effect last month.
“We request the Senate and the National Assembly to avoid politicising the bill so that when it’s passed into law, all these ladies here in Dagoretti, Kangemi, Kibera, Mathare, and the rest of the country will go all smiling to the kitchen”, said Ambassador Waringa.
Amb. Waringa, who is also the president of a non-governmental organisation known as Public Service Governance, was speaking today in Dagoretti, Nairobi County, where she donated sanitary pads and food commodities to women and children at the Dada’s Community Education Centre and Children’s Home.
“We, as public service governance, have come together to ensure that every woman has some food at home by donating food and everything else that is of help to them”, said Ambassador Waringa.
She said her organisation will ensure that all the elderly women and vulnerable children across the country are taken care of by supporting them in terms of food and other necessary assistance.
Amb. Waringa called on Kenyans to support her initiative, saying it promotes the well-being of the poor.
Speaking at the same event, Ms. Roselida Lwangu, one of the beneficiaries from Kangemi, said the support she has received from public service governance has enabled her to take care of her family.
“We receive food and cloth donations from Ambassador Waringa. She’s been of too much help to us as women,” she said.
Ms. Lwangu, who is 71 years old, joined the Dada’s Community Education Centre and Children’s Home in 2014 after her husband passed away.
By Arnold Cheptumo
