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Cotu sceptical on cash for poor
Trade unions on Thursday questioned the effectiveness of a welfare programme for the poor unveiled by the Kenyan government.
Cotu secretary-general Francis Atwoli said similar programmes aimed at alleviating poverty had failed and cited the controversial Kazi kwa Vijana (jobs for youth) and Unga (flour) for the Poor programmes.
“Like any other government scheme, it is prone to abuse by powerful forces in government who will use it to siphon taxpayers’ money,” he said.
Mr Atwoli urged the government to launch a countrywide programme instead of “piecemeal selective pilot programmes which will be hijacked by rich individuals at the expense of the poor.”
Under the Saidia Jamii programme unveiled by Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Wednesday, the needy in urban and rural areas are to get a Sh1,500 monthly stipend. The pilot project will be in the slums of Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.
Rich individuals
While launching the programme, Mr Odinga, however, emphasised that the Sh600 million programme for slum dwellers was only a pilot project to guide the government on implementing the project. He said the project would be rolled out in July next year. Mr Odinga admitted that corruption was rife but said most of the cases were due to teething problems.
Setting up
He said beneficiaries of the programme would be identified through community participation but did not give details. A report of the taskforce that recommended the setting up of the welfare programme does not say how beneficiaries will be identified.
It only says the programmes will be implemented by government officials and development partners Oxfam and the World Food Programme.
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The cash for the poor to solve the time bomb civic amenity problem in Dandora? French TV has shown the Dandora site considered the biggest open air disposal site in the world. The problem of waste disposal is bigger than that of traffic congestion. Here we really saw the poor suffering from the pollution from burning detritus. The title of the report was "The gleaners of Nairobi" what a shame for our city and country!!! The sum-mum was the Mungiki training on how to shoot with guns on site. Mr PM invest in incinerators and de-pollute the Nairobi river instead.
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