• Some workers had submitted telephone numbers that were not registered with M-Pesa.
• Others provided numbers that did not match the ID numbers used in registration.
Image: JOHN KAMAU
Unpaid Kazi Mtaani workers have been asked to contact County Implementation Committees through established channels for their payments to be processed.
The National Steering Committee said legitimate claims will be processed after the CICs capture details such as names, identification and phone numbers and verify them against the returns from the paying agency.
“Workers are urged to only contact their CICs for processing claims and should not share their details with other persons except those that are officially part of the CIC,” the committee said on Monday.
The committee regretted that some workers’ details may have had errors, which resulted in their payments not going through.
Some workers are said to have submitted telephone numbers that were not registered with M-Pesa. Others provided numbers that did not match the ID numbers used in registration.
“In such instances, affected workers are required to fill in identity forms for payments to be effected through alternative numbers that they have presented,” the department said.
Last week, the State Department of Housing and Urban Development said payment to youths under the Kazi Mtaani initiative will not be delayed. It dismissed claims the workers are underpaid.
The clarification followed claims the first cohort of workers in Uasin Gishu county had received less pay than they expected.
In July, the government was accused of financial irregularities, nepotism and non-payment of wages in the Kazi Mtaani programme, which is meant to help slum families affected by Covid-19.
Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga said most of the workers had been paid, adding that a payment app had been developed for Phase Two.
Workers are paid at the daily rate of Sh455. Supervisors earn Sh505 per day.
Kazi Mtaani, also known as National Hygiene Programme, has partnered with government agencies to provide jobs to youths in over 1,000 settlements across the 47 counties. Phase II of the programmes was launched on July 13.
A total of 283,210 workers were divided into two cohorts working a shift of 11 days each in one month.
The programme is part of the Sh56.6 billion economic stimulus package rolled out by President Uhuru Kenyatta on May 23.
During his presentation of the 2020-21 budget, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani said the Sh10 billion allocated to the programme will go a long way in ensuring the vulnerable youth who have lost jobs due to the pandemic can put food on the table.
Kazi Mtaani is a form of social protection for workers whose prospects for daily or casual work has been disrupted by the containment policies put in place to curb Covid-19.
It is structured as a local economic recovery programme while nurturing responsibility towards a clean environment.
- mwaniki fm