Beneficiaries of the Inua Jamii programme will receive their payments from next Monday.
This is after Government released Sh12.3 billion as direct payment to beneficiaries who have successfully opened bank accounts.
The programme targets 710,000 beneficiaries who have been receiving monthly stipends.
The beneficiaries are in three categories: the orphans and vulnerable children, Older persons and persons with severe disabilities.
The payment amounting to Sh12,000 will be made for the three cycles they missed. September-October 2018, November-December 2018 and January-February 2019.
Speaking in Nairobi yesterday, the Labour and Social Protection PS Nelson Marwa said the government will use the bank system to reduce distance covered by beneficiaries to get money.
"Under the previous cash system, people as old as 90 years had to walk a distance of 100km just to collect Sh2,000. They now have to open a bank account near them and receive payments directly into their accounts," Marwa said.
The payments are made through Equity, KCB, Cooperative and Post Bank.
According to statistics from the Labour Ministry, 515,661 accounts have been opened. The ministry is targeting 194,339 more beneficiaries.
Out of the 31,000 old persons beneficiaries, only 218,958 have opened accounts while 272,374 beneficiaries under the orphans and vulnerable children have opened accounts against the 353,000 targeted.
Under those living with disability, 22,329 have opened accounts against the 47,000 targeted.
"It will also help us pay money based only on people alive. The system will weed out ghost beneficiaries," he said.
It will also be easy to track down the money from preparation of payroll to the Treasury, to the bank, right to the beneficiary. Accounts that will be found dormant for more than six months will be investigated to find out if the beneficiary is dead.
"The fleet of vehicles flagged by the President for this programme should be used to transport those who can't walk and physically challenged to the bank so they can get their money," Marwa said.
The first two withdrawals per payment will be free and any subsequent withdrawals will be charged at a fee to be determined by banks.
The last payment under the programme was made in July-August 2018 cycle before being stopped to allow for the beneficiaries to migrate into the new payment system.
The new system consolidates cash transfer for the three programmes into a single payroll thus enhancing efficiency in service delivery to the beneficiaries.
"As a ministry we will not tolerate cases where caregivers, bank agents or any other individual would want to take advantage of the beneficiaries," the PS warned.
He however noted beneficiaries who opened their accounts after February 17, 2019, those without accounts, those with invalid details captured during account opening and those with Intergrated Population Registration Services details mismatch will miss from the coming payroll.
They will however receive Sh16,000 in the January-February payroll once the issues pointed are addressed.
