• Each beneficiary will receive Sh8,000 for the two cycles
• Payment commenced on Thursday throughout the country
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
The government yesterday released Sh8.5 billion towards the Inua Jamii cash transfer programme for older persons, orphans and vulnerable children.
The money is meant for 1,070,238 beneficiaries covering March-April and May -June cycles. Each beneficiary is set to receive Sh8,000.
The payment commenced yesterday throughout the country.
Since November last year, the Labour ministry has successfully migrated 1,070,329 beneficiaries from the card based payment mode to account based system.
Through the system, the government has so far been able to disburse Sh12.5 billion by March to more than one million beneficiaries.
Speaking during the launch of the National Council for Persons with Disability 2018-2022 strategic plan in Nairobi, Labour CS Ukur Yattani said the ministry is now targeting beneficiaries yet to open bank accounts.
"We are doing everything possible so that we retarget them in the first quarter of the 2019-2020 financial year through a phase three migration exercise," Yattani said.
The beneficiaries can access their money through four banks namely, Equity, KCB, Post Bank and Cooperative.
"The system is more secure, affording them bank services of their choice, payment in proximity to their locations and ability to save and withdraw from several outlets," the CS noted.
He said card payment faced challenges including long distances to pay points, limited window of 21 days, mass bio failures and mapping beneficiaries to specific branches.
The new system consolidates cash transfer for the three programmes into a single payroll thus enhancing efficiency.
The ministry currently implements three programmes under Inua Jamii: Older Persons Cash Transfer covering 833,000 beneficiaries, including 533,000 who are 70 years and above; Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children, which covers 310,000 households; and Persons with Severe Disability Cash Transfer, which covers 47,000 households.
The first two withdrawals per payment will be free but subsequent withdrawals are charged at a fee determined by banks.
The programme started on a pilot basis where beneficiaries used to receive as little as Sh500 per month.
Over time the amount was renewed upwards to Sh1,500 and gradually to the current Sh2,000 per month paid bi-monthly.
By 2012-13 the total number of beneficiaries in all the three categories was 226,000 with an annual budget of Sh6.4 billion.
Since 2013, the number has steadily increased to the current 1.2 million with an annual allocation of Sh25 billion while cumulative investments in the programmes by 2018-19 was at Sh125 billion.