The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani has sought clarity from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare regarding the sanitary pads for learners.

He said many girls are missing school due to this issue, calling on the ministry to find a permanent solution.

"This is at a number of schools in the country, and I'm seeing that this is a recurrent problem where a lot of our young girls are missing school because they have no access to pads. What is the current status of the ministry in dealing with this matter because it's a very long-standing matter?" questioned Venaani.

Minister Emma Kantema stated that last year they had worked in collaboration with the ministries of Education, Health and Finance to support girls in need of sanitary pads.

She cited a study conducted in all regions, after which sanitary pads were distributed to governor offices, which would then identify the beneficiaries.

“At the time when the Right Honourable Prime Minister launched this programme, he then indicated that we endeavour to do it as an annual exercise to already complement the programme that's been offered by the minister of education. So my office, together with the Ministry, was responsible for ensuring that we launched this project; we made provisions financially, and our intention is to roll it out every year. So that's where we are in terms of our initiatives to address the plight of the girl child.”