Cabinet to decide food subsidy plan

• 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.

Mr Joshua Kutuny (Cherengany,ODM) was more worried that it would encourage rural to urban migration and sought to know what measures were in place to control this.

Mr Gitobu Imanyara (Imenti Central, CCU) was worried that that Cabinet could reject the proposal and wondered what step would follow.

Mr David Ngugi (Kinangop, Sisi kwa Sisi) expressed reservations saying such a programme would make the poor so dependent and would have them stuck in a cycle of poverty. He questioned other programmes planned by the government to run simultaneously with the food subsidy scheme to get them out of the dependency situation.

Mr Odinga said the pilot project will determine the level of funding as well as the programme’s sustainability.

“We want to introduce a proper social protection programme for our people,” the PM said.

“We must cushion some of our most vulnerable Kenyans.”