No mercy!!Businesses to loss licences in the new breastfeeding rules

Nairobi County Assembly ward representatives have introduced a new bill were all public facilities in Nairobi and its environs will have to set up designated nursing or breastfeeding centres.

If a motion is adopted by the executives,all public facilities in Nairobi risk losing their licences if they do not set up designated centres for lactating mothers.

On Tuesday, the ward representatives passed a motion compelling the executive to ensure public establishments in the county such as hotels and other businesses have designated nursing or breastfeeding area or they will be denied licence renewal.

This will add a new responsibility to real estate developers or those leasing space in the push to make breastfeeding mothers more comfortable.

Related image

The MCAs said the motion was a reaction to recent occurrences where lactating mothers have been denied the privilege of nursing their infants in public or semi-public establishments due to lack of designated zones.

“This assembly resolves that the County Executive move with speed to ensure all licensed County public establishment and County Public service delivery points designate conducive nursing/breastfeeding areas with its enabling policy as a requirement and condition for licence renewal by the County Government of Nairobi City,” the motion tabled by nominated MCA Doris Kanario says.

She argued that breastfeeding mothers often feel ashamed or threatened of feeding their babies in public due to opposition from other people, negative comments, discomfort and harassment.

The representative called for the challenges to be immediately addressed, saying breastfeeding offers a bonding and attachment between mother and baby.

A government human resource policy unveiled in 2016 gave public institutions three years to set up day-care facilities and provide breastfeeding employees with well-equipped lactating rooms.

“Nairobi should follow the examples of other cities which have this rule. Everyone in this house was breastfed at a young age so they know that this motion is very crucial and I would like to urge members to adopt this motion to enable development,” said MCA Leah Naikane.

Why Nairobi Women will storm city restaurant on Tuesday to breastfeed their babies [EXCLUSIVE]

A National Assembly Bill that sought to compel employers to set aside special breastfeeding areas for employees and visitors with children was not adopted.

This comes months after Nairobi women stormed city restaurant to breastfeed their babies in a protest after a mother took to her social media  account and claimed that she was evicted out of the restaurant for breastfeeding her baby in public without covering the infant.

The victim, alleged that she was given the option of either covering the baby or breastfeed in the toilet.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *