Archives January 2022

Public Service, Gender, Social Protection, Arid, and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) Cabinet Secretary Margaret Kobia said they are working with development partners, embassies and other like-minded individuals to come up with the necessary interventions to arrest the hunger situation in the country.

At least 2.5 million Kenyans are in dire need of relief food after back to back seasons of rain failure, with the government assuring that no one will die of hunger.

Speaking after flagging off the distribution of 340 tons of food supply from the Kuwait government in Thika town today, Prof Kobia said about 23 counties are extremely affected by the hunger, but assured that interventions have been put in place to mitigate the situation.

She said among the most affected counties are Marsabit, Turkana, Samburu, Wajir and Garissa.

“The government is doing a lot to respond to the challenges of drought. The number of those affected is high and that is why we continue to urge our development partners, NGOs and other friendly nations to intervene. We shall make sure no Kenyan will die of hunger,” she said.

Some of the government interventions, she said, include the release of Sh8.5 billion this month towards vulnerable families through the Inua Jamii programme.

Government has also released Sh400 million as bursaries to children in boarding schools especially in Form-one and who have not been able to pay their school fees because of poverty.

Another Sh13 million has been given towards nutrition to children in ASAL counties, CS Kobia said.

She further added that the Kenya Meat Commission has been given the necessary resources to undertake livestock offtake to reduce risks of livestock deaths because of the drought.

While urging residents to sell their livestock to reduce more deaths, the CS said the livestock will be slaughtered and distributed to locals as food.

She added that the government is also working to have resilient programmes to reduce perennial reliance on relief food in such areas.

Some of the programmes include drilling boreholes for irrigation, having a drought fund to help in interventions, putting up irrigation schemes, connecting residents to roads and electricity as well as having a  school feeding programme among learners in the ASAL.

On the distribution of the relief food, the CS said they will be on the ground to ensure the food is given in a manner respecting integrity.

“Only those affected are the ones who will get it so that the food does not go to the wrong hands,” she said.

Kuwait Ambassador to Kenya Qusai AL Farhan said the bond between the two countries is strong and that they will offer more assistance if needed.

He said the food will be distributed to 6,300 residents in ASALs and will take them over two months.

“The connection between the two countries is too strong. When President Uhuru Kenyatta appealed for food donations to help mitigate against drought, Kuwait did not hesitate to help,” he said.

Among the food items distributed include rice, cooking oil, maize, sugar and flour.

By Muoki Charles

The Government of Kenya continues to put a heavy premium on addressing the plight of the needy and vulnerable populations in our country through mounting of various safety net interventions to cushion citizens from extreme poverty.

As part of these measures, the Ministry of Public Service, Gender, Senior Citizen Affairs and Special Programmes has disbursed funds for three critical programmes targeting the vulnerable groups as follows:

Programme	No. of beneficiaries	Total Amount (Kshs.)
Inua Jamii	1,067,805	8,542,440,000
NICHE	339,151	13,045,000
Presidential Secondary School Bursary	22,000	400,000,000
Total	1,123,716	8,955,485,000

1. INUA JAMII PROGRAMME

TheMinistry of Public Service, Gender, Senior Citizen Affairs and Special Programmes has released Kenya Shillings Eight Billion, Five Hundred and Forty-Two Million, Four Hundred and Forty Thousand (Kshs. 8,542,440,000) for payment to beneficiaries enrolled in the Inua Jamii programme.

Inua Jamii programme is a Government cash transfer programme that supports the most vulnerable members of the community by providing them with a stipend to cushion them from poverty, hunger and with the aim of improving their lives.

The programme targets

1. Orphans and Vulnerable Children;
2. Older Persons; and
3. Persons with Severe Disabilities.

These beneficiaries have already been enrolled into the program and their accounts have been successfully submitted to the Consolidated Cash Transfer Management Information System.

2. NUTRITION IMPROVEMENTS THROUGH CASH AND HEALTH EDUCATION (NICHE)

The Ministry of Public Service, Gender, Senior Citizen Affairs and Special Programmes has released Kenya Shillings Thirteen Million and Forty-Five Thousand (Kshs. 13,045,000) as top up payment to 339,151 NICHE Complementary Program beneficiaries.

The Nutrition Improvements through Cash and Health Education (NICHE) is a Government of Kenya project that aims at investing in the scale-up of the existing nutrition-sensitive safety nets, and testing customised economic inclusion models – as a complement to the regular cash transfers.

The NICHE Programme targets households with children under two years of age and Pregnant or Lactating mothers who are already enrolled in the Inua Jamii Programme.

The 339,151 households will benefit from the top up of the NICHE payment depending on the number of children enrolled in the (NICHE) complementary programme in Kitui, Kilifi, Marsabit, Turkana and West Pokot counties.

PAYMENT STATUS

The funds have been credited to the accounts of 1,067,805 Inua Jamii beneficiaries with payment expected to start on January 18, 2022. The Government is making this payment through the six contracted banks namely: Cooperative Bank, Equity Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank, Post Bank, Kenya Women Finance Trust and National Bank.

Beneficiaries will receive Kshs. 8,000 being payment for months of July, August, September and October 2021.

Beneficiaries or caregivers can access all or part of this payment at any time over a six months period. Therefore, beneficiaries are advised that the funds will remain in their accounts for a period of SIX months hence there is no need for all of them to rush to the banks to collect the money at the same time. This will avoid crowding at the payment points.

Payment modalities for the funds have been agreed between the Ministry and the paying banks to ensure the Ministry of Health guidelines on containment of COVID-19 are strictly followed while paying beneficiaries. These guidelines include:

1. Utilisation of their mobile banking platforms to prevent crowding of beneficiaries at the payment points;
2. Ensure social distancing by staggering payments;
3. Provision of handwashing facilities, sanitisers and masks for the beneficiaries during the payment; and
4. Ensure that all biometric devices are cleaned and regularly sanitised.

The Ministry has adopted a multi-agency approach in the payment process involving the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, County Governments, Ministry of Health, elected leaders and Ministries’ field staff to ensure seamless coordination.

3. PRESIDENTIAL SECONDARY SCHOOL BURSARY PROGRAMME

The Government has released Kenya Shillings Four Hundred Million (Kshs 400,000,000) to vulnerable students under the Presidential Bursary Programme.

The Presidential Secondary School Bursary for the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) is a flagship project under vision 2030 that was started in 2013 as a complementary programme for orphans and vulnerable children cash transfer programme (OVC-CT).

The aim of the bursary scheme is to enhance secondary school access, enrolment, attendance and completion by OVCs in Kenya.

Disbursement of this fund is constituency-based with all constituencies getting an equal allocation of Kshs. 1.3 Million.

In the 2021/2022 Financial Year, 22,000 students in public boarding schools will have their fees paid to a maximum of Kshs. 30,000 per student.

For further information please email ps@socialprotection.go.ke

Prof. Margaret Kobia, PhD, EGH

CABINET SECRETARY