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Cabinet to decide food subsidy plan
A new programme under which needy Kenyans will receive food subsidies will be determined by the Cabinet. Photo/FILE
In Summary
- Under the programme, vulnerable households would receive some Sh 1,500 every month.
- Scheme has been proposed by the government to improve food security and household nutrition among the urban poor.
The Cabinet will determine whether needy Kenyans will receive food subsidies under a new programme.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga will present to the Cabinet the proposed Saidia Jamii (help the family) Food Subsidy Programme for consideration and possible approval.
Under the programme, vulnerable households would receive some Sh1,500 every month through a cash transfer system-possibly the Mpesa money transfer service or a smartcard service.
Mr Odinga said Wednesday he could only share comprehensive and finer details of the scheme with Parliament after the Cabinet verdict.
“It is now the responsibility of the Cabinet to endorse or reject it. If it rejects, then still it is still its privilege and it would mean we can't then proceed unless it receives the green-light,” the PM told Parliament.
This amount was reached at on the basis of the 2005/2006 Kenya Household Survey which put expenditure on food items in a household at an average of Sh 1,474 in urban areas.
The scheme has been proposed by the government to improve food security and household nutrition among the urban poor.
The PM received an interim report last week from a taskforce he appointed in February and prepares to share it with the Cabinet.
The World Bank, Oxfam and the World Food Programme are the main development partners taking part in the initiative.
A pilot project involving some 100,000 people will be commissioned for eight months before the programme is fully rolled out. Earmarked under the pilot scheme are Mathare, Korogocho, Mukuru and Kibera areas heavily inhabited by the urban poor.
According to Mr Odinga, households with small children and disabled parents will mostly be targeted.
The House heard that development partners have established mechanisms to identify beneficiaries.
These are some of the recommendations that will be presented to the Cabinet for consideration.
While lauding the initiative, MPs expressed concern over its sustainability and mechanisms in place to ensure that only eligible beneficiaries are enrolled.
Mr Danson Mungatana (Garsen, Narc Kenya) said for the first time the government had come up with a serious programme to support the urban poor.
However, he raised concern over its funding, wondering how much donors had committed to the programme.
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@ Otienoz again you are showing your naivety politics is a populist (numbers) game. You name me one politician who is not "self seeking" as you would like to put it. So Kibaki laid a foundation stone and now it's his project? Don't try to position yourself as nonpartisan yet you are castigating Raila and painting Kibaki as a saint. At least Raila has the hardihood of tackling issues of national importance and not just domestic/kitchen issues.
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We are in no position to hand out free fish to anyone who is not making enough money to sustain themselves (90% of Kenyans). What we need to be doing is to create an enabling environment for people to fish, Provide them low cost loans so they can buy fishing boats and fishing nets and then build processing factories for the fish so they can process and sell the surplus fish to others. That way, we will create employment, and reduce poverty level.
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This is bad policy and I doubt its viability and sustainability in a country where nearly 50% have no jobs. You can't discriminate against any poor person. This money must come from somewhere. The best policy is to create jobs. That money could be used to attract investors by giving them tax breaks upto the equivalent amount to be dished out and having them employ people who will come in the tax bracket. That would be a win-win situation that is sustainable in the long run. Don't create culture of dependency!
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