Reprieve for 187 elderly people from Meru after court grants them stipend
Some of the elderly people who sued the State for failing to register them in the old persons cash transfer programme seen here in the Meru High Court on February 11, 2016. The High Court has ordered they be included in the programme. FILE PHOTO | PHOEBE OKALL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- They had sued the government for denying them monthly stipends after rejecting their applications.
- The men and women from Mwangathia and Kiija locations are aged between 65 and 90 years.
- They their rights had been violated since the criterion used to select beneficiaries of the fund was not adhered to.
A court in Meru has given the Attorney-General and the Gender Affairs Cabinet secretary 45 days to incorporate 187 men and women from the county in the government’s elderly persons’ monthly stipends.
The orders were issued by Justice Francis Gikonyo.
The elderly people from Central Imenti in Meru County had sued the government for denying them monthly stipends after rejecting their applications.
The men and women from Mwangathia and Kiija locations aged between 65 and 90 years filed a suit against the Gender Affairs Cabinet secretary and the Attorney-General at the Meru High Court through Joan Ndorongo and Company Advocates.
Through their lawyer, Murithi Mutunga, the petitioners told Justice Gikonyo that their rights had been violated since the criterion used to select beneficiaries of the fund was not adhered to.
Mr Mutunga said his clients had followed the right procedures but they were turned away on grounds that they were not poor.
“They had attended chiefs’ barazas with a view [to] being registered but they were turned [away] on allegations that we were not poor despite meeting the age threshold,” the lawyer said.
