Lawyer Miguna Miguna has urged the government to send stipends to the elderly through mobile money.
He the elderly undergo mobility challenges to access the offices for the monthly stipends under the Inua Jamii cash transfer programme.
The programme is a government-funded initiative designed to provide monthly stipends of Sh2000 to vulnerable citizens.
Miguna questioned why the elderly are forced to visit Social Development Offices physically which are far from their homes for the funds.
"Why do elderly Kenyans with mobility issues, especially in rural Kenya with serious transportation challenges, forced to physically visit the Social Development Offices (which they don’t know, can’t find, and are mostly in towns far away from their homes), to collect the paltry Sh2,000 stipend monthly?" he said.
"This is inhumane. Send this stipend to the M-Pesa accounts of the elderly," the lawyer said in a statement on Saturday.
This comes after the government officially launched the registration of 500,000 new beneficiaries for the programme.
The beneficiaries of the programme include orphans and vulnerable children, older persons, and households caring for individuals with severe disabilities.
As of July 2023, the programme had 1,042,864 beneficiaries out of the expected 1,233,129 beneficiaries.
During the Kenya social protection conference in April 2023, President William Ruto committed to increasing the number of programme beneficiaries to 2.5 million in the next three years.
Subsequently, on August 8, 2023, the Cabinet approved the registration of 500,000 new beneficiaries in the 2023-2024 financial year.
The state department also planned a targeted registration exercise to replace exited beneficiaries.
State Department for Social Protection and Senior Citizen Affairs PS Joseph Motari said the fresh enlisting of new beneficiaries started well across the country on Friday, September 1, 2023.
PS Motari said registration for new beneficiaries will take place at sub-county social development and sub-county children services offices.
During registration, eligible individuals and caregivers must present valid original ID cards and copies of necessary documents for their respective programmes.
For the elderly, assistance will be extended to Kenyan citizens aged 70 years and above who do not receive pensions.
Motari said the money will be disbursed before public servants receive their salaries every month.
