A Sh43.2bn lifeline for the old

Photo/NYAMBEGA GISESA/NATION

Mama Elizabeth Kwamboka. The cost of everything has gone up in recent times, sad how brutal this country has become recently especially for those who are supposed to be in their golden age. 

At about 85 years of age, Mama Elizabeth Kwamboka can barely be effective if employed.

She is not pensionable, has never learnt any skills or training, and dropped out of school in class three.

She is a subsistence farmer on a small piece of land left under her care after her husband’s death in the 1970’s and has suffered the atrocities of poor farming.

The village veterinary doctor jokes that moles find her farm one hell of a place to build a home. Every morning as the birds rise, she is always up hoping that her efforts will pay at the end of the day.

“It is very difficult to make a living, especially when you are old,” she says looking frail and tired.

Her sons and daughters, who used to support her, rarely do; they now have their own children to take care of.

Her neighbours are not of any meaningful help either. The children of this village migrated to towns, leaving the little village of Botana in the hills of North Masaba village, a ‘museum’ for senior citizens.

While growing old may be preferable to the alternative, it is not without its problems.

Kenya’s elderly citizens suffer from chronic poverty, material deprivation, lack of a constant source of income, alongside high inflation and extremely unaffordable prices of commodities that affect the rest of the populace. 

The cost of everything has gone up in recent times, sad how brutal this country has become recently especially for those who are supposed to be in their golden age. 

Caring for the old is an age-old problem. In Kenya, the talk of representing the youth and the prospect of change is a buzzword in politics, yet the same cannot be said for the old, for whom crafting policies aimed at taking care of them is paramount.  

Last month, Parliament unanimously agreed on a motion aimed at providing a stipend to its citizens aged 60 years and above, the first serious effort made towards taking care of the elderly.

Through a private members motion in Parliament, Gwassi MP John Mbadi, pushed for setting aside money to take care of close to 1.8 million Kenyans aged above 60 in a non-contributory pension scheme. 

If passed and assented to by the President, the stipend will be implemented from July 1.

Already, a similar initiative run by the office of the Prime Minister, covers 44 districts. The new plan aims to ensure that senior citizens throughout the country will benefit from the stipend.

According to the plan, the aged will receive at least Sh2,000 monthly, costing taxpayers about Sh3.6 billion monthly 0r Sh43.2 billion annually.

While speaking in Parliament, Mr Mbadi argued for the elderly citizens: “Aware that article 57 (d) of the Constitution makes it a requirement that the elderly receive reasonable assistance from their family and state; this House urges the government to create a scheme to pay any person who is over 60 years and is not in receipt of a pension or benefit from any organisation or state agency, an amount of not less than Sh2,000 per month to enable them live in dignity and respect,” an excerpt from his motion read.

Lari MP, David Njuguna, pointed out that the plan could go a long way towards helping the aged who are “begging in the streets because they can’t have any meaningful source of income,” he said. “It will be a subsidy to the high cost of living,” MP Ababu Namwamba added.

By the time we went to press, the deputy Prime minister and Finance minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, was yet to respond to the motion.

Mr Mbadi proposed a non-contributing pension scheme. “A non-contributory pension scheme is one in which the employee or the one who is paid makes no contribution in terms of premiums,” Benedict Kariuki, a financial economist explains. 

Growing old in Africa is particularly a tormenting experience because there are no policies to care for the elderly. Old people in Africa retire to a life with no money to spend. 

The standard definition of ‘old age’ used by the United Nations is 60+ years. Kenya has no special pension for senior, poor, old citizens and this might be the first deliberate step to getting one. 

As the country celebrated its 48th independence day on Wednesday, even those born when the country gained independence are soon approaching the retirement age.

“Even my children are now growing old and I worry about how they will survive once they stop working, since they are in the informal sector and have no access to pension,” says Mwangi Kariuki, a Ruiru estate octogenarian.  

According to the 2009 Census results, Kenya’s population points out at a youthful population where 78 per cent are aged 35 years and below.

Despite this, old people number 1.8 million Kenyans aged above 60, provide a startling challenge to planners.

Although life expectancy remains low at 48.9 years, the 25th lowest rate in the world, there is a sizable number of elderly people.

In 2008, there were 2.4 million people out of 32 million considered as old. 

The UN and some non-governmental organizations argue that ageing is a present-day development challenge for Africa .

Even in other countries, older people are identified as a “social problem.” In Kenya, only 10 per cent of older people receive a pension.

Available pensions are mostly from former employers as retirement benefit schemes are not well-developed and a large number fail to invest in them. 

However, there are those who oppose the proposed stipend as being “socialist and populist. It is an attempt to bribe the populace and the plan is not a sound economic step,” economist Ndindi Nyoro says.

“This money can be spent in other areas that will build the economy,” he adds. Economists argue that such a rushed up move should only take care of those people who have been identified to have acted responsibly, saved money and bought property, but who now need care and help.

“It should be discouraged from just being a blank cheque to anyone simply because they are old,” says economist Dr Paul Kariuki.