Over 10,000 beneficiaries of the Inua Jamii cash transfer programme from Kajiado County will receive over Sh84 million disbursed to the county for the months of July to October.
The beneficiaries who are in the Older Persons Cash Transfer (OPCT), people living with severe disability and orphans and vulnerable children categories will receive Sh 8,000 each from the banks they registered with.
According to Jimmy Njau, the County Coordinator for Social Development, 6,990 elderly Persons, 3,195 orphans and vulnerable children and 375 people living with severe disability will receive the cash in Kajiado.
Njau however notes that some of the beneficiaries are encountering several challenges before accessing the funds.
“The elderly persons in particular have a challenge with their fingerprint biometrics recognition in the banks due to their old age hence having difficulty in withdrawing the funds,” said Njau.
Njau also noted that due to having no other source of income, most of the beneficiaries’ bank accounts have been dormant and the beneficiaries have to be given an e-ticket for the accounts to be activated again.
The elderly also had a challenge of travelling from their homes to Kajiado town to access the money from the main banks but the government has made it easier for them by ensuring that they can access the money from bank agents in their respective sub counties and wards.
“It is also unfortunate that some of the caregivers are stealing the cash from the elderly. We have had cases where a caregiver withdraws the funds from the bank and only gives half the amount to the beneficiary,” added Njau.
The payments are being made through Equity bank, Cooperative Bank, Postbank, Kenya Women Microfinance, National bank and Kenya Commercial bank.
The 10,534 beneficiaries from Kajiado will receive Sh 84,272,000 for arrears from the month of July-October 2022.
The government disbursed Sh 8.58 billion to over one million beneficiaries of Inua Jamii cash transfer programme which seeks to cushion the elderly, orphans, vulnerable children and people with severe disability against poverty.
By Diana Meneto
