- In January this year, the government commenced digital enrolment of the programme’s beneficiaries payment through M-Pesa.
- The programme, which began with older persons in 2007 with only 300 beneficiaries.
Image: FILE
Beneficiaries of government social protection cash transfer programmes will start receiving their stipend on their mobile phones starting December 1, Labour and Social Protection CS Alfred Mutua has said .
This is even as the government moves to restructure the Inua Jamii programme to weed out dead beneficiaries whose caregivers still receive stipends without disclosure.
The beneficiaries-some too old to visit banks to collect the stipend-have waited for more than a year to receive the cash on their phones.
The cash transfer programme targets orphans and vulnerable children, persons with severe disabilities and older persons.
CS Mutua told senators on Wednesday the more than one million beneficiaries will receive their monthly stipends through the M-Pesa platform, instead of going to the bank or agents.
Currently, the beneficiaries are forced to travel long distances to access their stipend from registered financial institutions, which is a challenge to many of them, especially for the elderly and PWDs.
“We are going to ensure that all the monies will be transferred directly to the phones or designated M-Pesa accounts of the recipients,” Mutua said.
The shift follows President William Ruto’s directive last year to save the beneficiaries from the hassle of long distances, costs and inconveniences to access the cash.
CS Mutua told senators that contracts for banks on-boarded to transfer the money are coming to an end as the government moves into the digital platforms to transfer the money.
Six banks that had been contracted to pay the beneficiaries, subcontracted bank agents in the wards and subcounties to disburse the funds to the beneficiaries.
“Currently, they wake up in the morning, get a boda boda or a car and travel long distances and they line up the whole day waiting to receive their money, which is not fair,” Mutua said.
“You don’t have someone spending Sh500 to travel and another Sh200 to eat and then you are giving them Sh2,000. Already the money is gone.”
In January this year, the government started digital enrolment of the programme’s beneficiaries’ payment through M-Pesa.
The programme started with older persons in 2007, with only 300 beneficiaries.
It currently has more than 1.2 million recipients, with 833,129 older persons over the age of 70.
The 2019 Census estimated that older people comprised six per cent or 2.7 million people. However, the number is expected to increase to 10.3 per cent by 2050.
The lawmakers took Mutua to task on mechanisms the government has put in place to ensure only genuine beneficiaries receive the monthly stipend.
Nominated Senator Catherine Mumma challenged the minister to make available the register of the beneficiaries for scrutiny.
“What mechanism have you put in place to ensure only the right people are receiving the social protection funds and the funds are equitably distributed among the beneficiaries?” she posed
Kirinyaga Senator James Murango hard-pressed the CS to explain why the government has failed to use available data it holds to register the beneficiaries instead of using more money for another registration.
In his response, Mutua said Parliament passed a law on data protection that does not allow the government to disclose private information of people.