Outrage as MP gives books with her face on the cover

Aldai MP Marianne Kitany speaks during a past sitting at Parliament Buildings, Nairobi. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Aldai Member of Parliament Marianne Kitany is on the spot after distributing books to primary schools bearing her portrait on the front cover.

In the education project that commenced last week, the legislator set tongues wagging after she presided over the distribution of class eight revision books to various schools in Nandi South sub-County.

Banja and Kaptwai primary schools are among those that benefited from the first batch of books, which Kitany said was part of promises she made to the electorate during campaigns.

She said she targets to supply learning materials, including English, CRE, social studies, math and Kiswahili revision books, to over 140 schools to boost preparation for this year's Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam.

"I have received calls from various people questioning why the books have my portraits, but I'm not the first legislator to do so. There are many Members of Parliament from central Kenya who provided learning materials for their constituents," she stated.

She did not disclose the amount of money used to purchase the books, but confirmed to have devoted a section of National Government-Constituency Development Funds (NG-CDF) to the exercise.

A section of the locals criticised the initiative, terming it a waste of resources and not a priority to the local schools, where pupils are grappling with poor infrastructure.

Isaac Sang, one of the Aldai residents, said the amount used to buy reading materials that are only useful for six months doesn't make economic sense since 8-4-4 will be phased out.

"The money should have been prudently used to build permanent learning structures. There are still many muddy classrooms in most of the schools in the area," stated Sang.

Geoffrey Kosgei also accused the MP of misusing taxpayers' money and personalising the public resources by putting her portraits on the books.