Govt cleans up cash transfers list as 200,000 more to benefit

A file photo of beneficiaries of the elderly persons' cash transfer programme lining up to collect the money from the Ministry of Social Services in Homa Bay. PHOTO | GEORGE ODIWUOR | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • This is taking place as it seeks to include more than 200,000 people who have turned 70 years old.
  • Social Protection Principal Secretary Nelson Marwa said on Wednesday that they were finalising the audit to ensure only those who are alive are listed for the Sh2,000 monthly stipend from taxpayers.
  • The PS asked the beneficiaries to open banks accounts by May 18 to facilitate the payment.

The government has started to audit the list of one million beneficiaries of the cash transfer programme to remove names of those who have died.

This is taking place as it seeks to include more than 200,000 people who have turned 70 years old.

Social Protection Principal Secretary Nelson Marwa said on Wednesday that they were finalising the audit to ensure only those who are alive are listed for the Sh2,000 monthly stipend from taxpayers.

“Our officers in counties, with the support of chiefs, are currently verifying the data to remove names of those who passed on from the registry,” Mr Marwa told journalists in his office in Nairobi.

He also asked Kenyans who are able to support their ageing parents to do so as the government cannot cover everybody.

BANK ACCOUNTS

The PS asked the beneficiaries to open banks accounts by May 18 to facilitate the payment.

Treasury wires the money directly to the beneficiaries’ accounts at Kenya Commercial Bank, Equity Bank, Co-operative Bank of Kenya and Post Bank.

Senior citizens comprise 523,000 of the one million beneficiaries of the programme that also caters for the disabled and orphans.

They are entitled to Sh2,000 per month, which is paid every two months in a lump sum of Sh4,000.

They last received the money in March, when they were sent Sh12,000 after a six-month delay.

Some 54,000 beneficiaries missed out on the March pay because they had not opened accounts in the four accredited banks.

Another 57,000 beneficiaries missed out because they had disputed accounts where the recipient is registered under two of the accredited banks.