The government wants citizens who failed to register for Huduma Namba in the 45-day biometric registration over lack of registration documents to take advantage of ongoing Rapid Result Initiative on birth certificate and national IDs registration.
Government spokesman Col. Rtd. Cyrus Oguna noted that the RRI on the vital registration documents was a government’s plan to prepare for another window period to allow more Kenyans to register for Huduma Namba.
Speaking during a weekly press briefing in Marigat town of Baringo County Oguna urged citizens from all regions of Kenya to utilize the current opportunity where the registration of birth certificates and national IDs was being done free-of-charge.
“The government has opened another window of opportunity to help those who were locked out in Huduma Namba registration because they lacked birth certificates and ID cards,” he affirmed.
Oguna noted that biometric registration was a necessity for all Kenyans and he specifically made emphasis on special groups like the youth and elderly persons saying it may not be easy to access vital government services like cash transfers without Huduma Namba.
The spokesman who specifically touched on Inua Jaamii cash transfers and Ajira Programmes targeting jobless Kenyan professionals noted that the government was continuously enrolling more beneficiaries to the programmes to which more than Sh26 billion had been allocated in the 2019/2020 financial year.
The Inua Jamii according to the Spokesperson has been up scaled by 63 percent from Ksh16 billion and will benefit over 1.3 million people in the three categories.
He noted that the cash transfer programme which captures Kenyans with special needs like the elderly persons, widows and persons with disabilities was aimed at improving their living standards which will also promote the country’s economic growth.
The government spokesman who was accompanied by Deputy Director of Information Ms. Esther Wanjau and acting head of KNA Joseph Kipkoech was in a second weekly press briefing session outside Nairobi with the first one having been done in Embu.
He took time with the media to hear success stories of Inua Jamii programme through testimonies from beneficiaries in one of Baringo’s poorest informal settlement who narrated how the cash transfer funds had helped them.
He asked Kenyans and the media to criticize the government constructively and not just for the sake of it.
Oguna noted that he will be holding future weekly press briefings in different regions of the country to deviate from the usual norm whereby it used to be hosted only in Nairobi.
Christine Loburi, one of the beneficiaries of the orphans’ and vulnerable children thanked the government for the programme saying it had changed their lives around.
“I have been able to educate my nine grandchildren who are orphans and also managed to put a roof over their heads courtesy of the fund,” said Loburi.
The beneficiaries however complained of the inefficient biometric identification saying they spent a lot of time waiting for payments as the machines at times failed to identify them.
By Vincent Miningwo/Christopher Kiprop
