• The launch was in partnership with Empris Creative Communication and Fashionaire Corporation limited.
• The programme targets 10,000 families in the first phase.
The Kajiado government has launched a programme to feed at least 30,000 needy families through an ICT-driven system.
The system, M-Riziki, which was launched by Governor Joseph ole Lenku on Thursday, is targeting poor families in urban centres and pastoralists in the rural areas. The launch was in partnership with Empris Creative Communication and Fashionaire Corporation limited.
“The beneficiaries were selected through the county and national government administrative structures,” Lenku said.
The programme targets 10,000 families in the first phase. The other 20,000 households will get the food in due course.
Beneficiaries will receive a unique pin that they will use at selected retail shops near their homes to get supplies.
The retailer will verify the identity of the beneficiary through an application on his or her phone.
Once verified, the retailer will click ‘dispatch token’ and the pin expires immediately.
A receipt with a reference number for the food items picked is generated and simultaneously sent to the county government, retailer and the ICT system administrator via SMS.
Retailers will then be paid through M-Pesa.
The food hamper consists of eight kilos of maize flour, three kilos of cereals, two litres of salad oil, four kilos of fortified porridge flour, five face masks and one bottle of hand sanitiser
Kajiado Deputy Governor Martin Moshisho flagged off relief food in Ngong town to vulnerable families who are yet to be incorporated into the new system.
“It is a great move to utilise ICT as one of our enablers in the effort to reach out to thousands of hungry Kenyans. I'm interested in knowing the criteria used on the identification of the specific shops within the beneficiary proximity,” resident Fred Kunte said.
The Governor was accompanied by MCAs from Kajiado North led by Robert Sungura (Ngong), Njogu Kimemia (Oloolua), Mwathi Pere (Ongata Rongai), Peter Gitau (Olkeri) and their nominated colleagues Onesmus Ngogoyo, Richard Pulei and Violet Wahinya.