NAIROBI, Kenya, May 28 — Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has pledged to ringfence resources in the county budget to ensure girls in school particularly those in informal settlements get sanitary towels every month.
Speaking during the launch of Nominated Senator Gloria Orwoba Free Pad Bank Drive, Sakaja observed that access to sanitary towels remains a critical challenge for many young girls in Kenya.
“You can count on Nairobi to be the first county to officially put a budget for our young girls in school for sanitary towels,” declared Sakaja.
He further emphasized the importance of teaching boys about menstrual periods and getting more male voices in the campaign against period shame.
The Nairobi Governor added: “We must educate young boys in school to know that it is a normal biological process, that is actually a sacred process, that God has bestowed among you.”
Orwoba on her part stated that establishing a pad bank in 47 counties will ensure girls don’t have to miss school because they lack sanitary towels.
“Since I am always advocating against period shame, I thought I should go ahead and walk the talk,” said the Nominated Senator.
Mobilization of donations
The Pad Bank is a 20ft container put up for mobilization of sanitary pad donations for distribution countrywide.
She also used the occasion to sensitize participants to a legislative proposal in which she wants to compel the State to increase funding of female hygiene products in all schools and show unlimited feminine hygiene to show solidarity for the ordeal girls and women go through when experiencing their menstrual cycle.
In February 2023, Senator Orwoba attracted international attention after she was ejected from Senate over an apparent blood stain on her trousers in what turned out to be an act of activism to advance her Bill that sought legislative intervention.
The first-term Senator was slammed and heavily trolled online for coming to the Senate plenary in “fake menstrual blood”.
According to UNICEF representative Albertina Uwimana, 65 per cent of women in Kenya cannot afford sanitary pads, and one million girls miss school each month because they cannot afford sanitary pads.
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