Elders from the Boni community in Lamu have complained of being sidelined in the Inua Jamii monthly stipend programme for senior citizens.
The Bonis who are traditionally hunters and gatherers occupy seven villages of Pandanguo, Basuba, Milimani, Mararani, Mangai, Bodhei and Kiangwe which are all close to the Lamu-Somalia border.
All these areas are considered terror prone owing to the ease and frequency with which al Shabaab militant attack.
The Inua Jamii programme is Kenya's flagship social protection scheme in which all elderly persons aged 70 and above who are not in receipt of a civil service pension are entitled to monthly stipend.
The objective of Inua Jamii is to uplift the lives of poor and vulnerable citizens through regular and reliable bi-monthly cash transfers.
The Boni community continues to encounter marginalisation in a myriad of issues among them issuance of ID cards, poor roads, health and educational infrastructure.
The community has often missed out of government services like vaccination programmes and relief aid as officials are afraid of venturing into their areas over imminent al Shabaab attacks.
Speaking when they converged at Kiangwe, community elders lamented that despite having submitted all required documentation, majority of senior citizens from the area had not received a coin from the programme.
The Boni villages have close to 100 senior citizens out of which only 20 have been registered to receive cash in the programme.
They said even those registered have reported not accessing the cash each end month as it should be.
Their spokesperson Khatib Abdullahi appealed to the government to help them access the cash just like their fellow senior citizens across the country.
“If that money is meant for people above 70, then the government should ensure all in that group benefit. We are all senior citizens, none is superior or needy than the other," Abdullahi said.
Elder Ali Gubo said many senior citizens in the community were living in abject poverty as they have no means to sustain themselves due to their advanced age.
“The double standards need to stop and the marginalisation too. We all need this money,” Gubo said.
The senior citizens also want the stipend increased from Sh2,000 to Sh10,000 monthly arguing that the current amount is barely enough.
Lamu Council of Elders chairperson Sharif Salim said some of the beneficiaries spend more or close to the Sh2000 just on travelling to go collect the stipend.
“You go back home with maybe Sh500 or less and that’s so frustrating. Let them increase the money so that it makes sense," Salim said.
-Edited by SKanyara
