A recent study on the challenges facing the older persons in access to the social programmes offered by the government in Siaya County has revealed that most beneficiaries feel that the current amount was too little to cater to their basic needs.
Speaking during the dissemination forum on the study findings at Awelo chief’s camp in Siaya, a programme officer with the Kenya Society for People Living with HIV/AIDS (KESPA), Daniel Odipo said most of the beneficiaries were barely surviving on the Sh2,000 monthly stipend after spending a portion of it on transport to various collection points.
Odipo, whose organisation was the focal point of the study which was undertaken by HelpAge International, said that older persons interviewed now want the government to decentralise the pay points to their respective villages, where they can access it with ease.
“The beneficiaries complained that they are spending a substantial amount of money on transport to the pay points, which eats into the final pay,” said Odipo during a forum which was also attended by the Siaya Township Location Chief Romlus Okoth and his assistants.
On the transition to the Social Health Authority, the KESPA programme officer said it was the feeling of most of the elderly persons that the government should come up with a strategy, where staff will be deployed to the villages to register the older persons.
“The new medical scheme should deploy personnel to register the older persons, where they are, instead of them being forced to go to the centralised registration places such as the Huduma centres, or what used to be the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) offices,” said Odipo.
The study further found that most pensioners were languishing in poverty as their earnings have been eroded by inflation.
Odipo said some of the issues that the older persons have been complaining about are the pension’s delay, which makes them lapse into poverty.
When it comes to pensions, you realise that some of the retirees take too long to have their pensions disbursed,” he said, adding, “This takes place when their salary income has stopped, and this gap exposes them to more problems.”
The outcome of the study will be shared with relevant government authorities and stakeholders for action.
An older person, John Wayodi Mweresa, said that much as they appreciate government efforts, there was a need for a review of the monthly stipend to a minimum of Sh5,000.
This, he said, will see most beneficiaries afford at least the basic needs, given that most of them are vulnerable and cannot undertake any other task to earn a living.
Similar studies were conducted in Kisii, Embu, and Kilifi counties targeting the experiences of the older persons in accessing Inua Jamii, pensions, and the Cash Transfer programmes.
By Philip Onyango
