The State plans to open an Enhanced Single Register for all persons who are eligible for Government social assistance.
To achieve this, the Department for Social Protection and Senior Citizens will recruit a total of 312 enumerators and another 32 enumerator supervisors to undertake the enlisting exercise expected to last for 21 days.
For one to qualify for the position of an enumerator, he or she must, among others, have attained a mean grade of C (minus) in the Form 4 level of education and possess computer literacy skills.
For enumerator supervisors, one must have attained a C (plain) in her form for four KCSE examinations, be computer literate, and have a command of the local language of the locality he or she expected to serve.
Applications for the two openings closed on August 26.
Nyeri County Director of Children Services, Kung’u Mwaniki, said they were waiting for directions from the headquarters before the process of recruiting the new casual officers could commence.
“The preparation of an enhanced Single Register is a World Bank-funded programme whose objective is to enable the government to have a common databank for all persons who qualify for social protection owing to their individual special needs. We are targeting to bring on board all Persons with Severe Disabilities (PWSDs), Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) and Older Persons (OP-CT) under one register where we can access their details at the click of a button,” Mwaniki has told KNA.
Currently, there are at least 22,000 persons enlisted under the Inua Jamii programme according to data from the office of the Social Protection and Citizens Services released in July this year.
A total of 17,000 of the beneficiaries are registered under the OP-CT, 4,000 are under the OVC, and 1,300 are PWSDs.
Last month, the State Department for Social Protection and Senior Citizens Affairs, PS Joseph Motari, announced that Sh3, 215,992,000 had been disbursed to 1,607,996 beneficiaries, up from 1,037,773 in May last year.
A total of 570,263 new beneficiaries have been boarded into the programme following President Dr. William Ruto’s directive to upscale the programme to Sh2.5 million beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, a total of Sh4 million has been disbursed to 330 secondary school students under the Presidential Secondary Bursaries programme.
Each constituency has received Sh679,000 under the programme, which will cater for the education of the students from very vulnerable families.
A total of 16,000 children are also receiving Sh2,000 monthly stipends under the OVC program.
Mwaniki said the Government is currently assisting a total of 4,000 households under the Inua Jamii programme, with this figure expected to increase in the coming days.
“We are calling upon those who qualified for funding following ongoing registration through the Consolidated Cash Transfer Program Management Information System (CCTPMIS) exercise to open bank accounts where they will be receiving their monthly stipends. We have a total of six banks where eligible beneficiaries can choose, which include Equity Bank, Post Bank, National Bank, Kenya Women Finance Trust, and Cooperative Bank of Kenya,” he has stated.
Under the CCTPMIS system, OVCs and PWSDs receive their monthly stipends through their Mpesa accounts, unlike in the past, where such monies were sent through individual bank accounts.
However, beneficiaries under the OP-CT programme will continue to receive their money through their respective bank accounts.
Kung’u said the payments would assist families taking care of orphans and vulnerable children ahead as schools resume after a brief midterm break.
“We shall continue paying money to Orphans and Vulnerable Children and Persons with Disabilities through their Mpesa mobile accounts. Those accounts are tailor-made to ensure such funds cannot be deducted through the Fuliza overdraft system. These accounts are also secure and safe, as the beneficiaries can access their money at the place of their convenience and avoid losing prey to fraudsters and rogue relatives,” added Mwaniki.
The State began disbursing funds for the Inua Jamii cash transfer programme on a monthly basis last year to address perennial backlogs that had turned out to be a nightmare for the intended beneficiaries.
The move came at a time when beneficiaries of the social safety net had been forced to wait for months before receiving the dues.
For one to access the Sh2,000 monthly stipends, he or she must have been registered through the CCTPMIS.
In addition, one must be in possession of an Inua Jamii payment card, national Identity Card and a caregiver national card every time he or she wants to make a withdrawal.
Dr. Ruto promised that his administration would be diligent in ensuring there is timely disbursement of the funds to enable the most vulnerable in life to enhance their quality of life.
The OPCT, PWSD-CT, and CT-OVC programme were established in September 2013 to uplift the lives of the most vulnerable members in the society in a bid to enable them to meet their most basic needs.
The National Safety Net Programme (NSNP) covers a total of 1.2 million households in the three cash transfer programmes.
By Samuel Maina/Waithera Mumbi
