Beneficiaries of the Inua Jamii cash transfer programme will soon start receiving their money on their mobile phones.
Social Protection and Senior Citizen Affairs Principal Secretary Joseph Motari said it is torturous for the elderly to travel to distant towns in search of banks to get their social protection money.
Speaking in Kilifi on Thursday when he visited registration centres, Motari said the government is keen on making the life of the elderly and the vulnerable easy.
“It is not good to have the elderly move around in search of banks. We are looking at a situation where they will be sitting comfortably in their homes and then they receive their money while going about their activities. This one will also reduce the cost of transport,” he said.
The PS said more than 350,000 people have been registered for the Inua Jamii programme countrywide since the registration exercise started eight days ago.
The registration which will going on until the end of this month targets to list 500,000 vulnerable people including orphans, people with severe disabilities, and elderly people of 70 years and above.
Motari said the department has been working hard to handle the huge number of citizens and assured the public that every qualified person for the programme will be listed.
“We want to make sure every eligible person is listed in this programme, so please spread the word so that no eligible person is left out,” he added.
The PS who was accompanied by Kilifi North MP Owen Baya and other leaders, said that the administration and local leaders have rendered tremendous support towards the exercise to make the registration run smoothly and fast.
He said the registration will go a long way in ensuring they get the needed financial support every month as directed by President William Ruto.
MP Baya said most of the elderly persons are suffering from many health conditions and the Inua Jamii programme will save thousands of the newly registered citizens from possible early death due to extreme poverty in their families.
Rabai MP Kenga Mupe applauded the government’s efforts to support more people in the Inua Jamii programme and promised to support the registration so no qualified person in the constituency is left out.