Under the program dubbed Inua Jamii, close to 530,000 elderly people are set to benefit from the funds which Labour Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani says will be released in the course of next week/FILE
NAIROBI,Kenya,Mar 14 – The government has set aside Sh30 billion for cash transfers for elderly people aged 70 years and above starting April this year.
Under the program dubbed Inua Jamii, close to 530,000 elderly people are set to benefit from the funds which Labour Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani says will be released in the course of next week.
“Everything is in place and the roll out will start in the next few days,this is a great milestone for our country because majority of the old people did not save for their retirement and are living in abject poverty,” he said.
Yattani said the government has further set aside Sh6.5 billion to cater for universal health care for the elderly.
Currently, the social protection program sector in Kenya include the cash transfer to orphans and vulnerable children, older persons cash transfer program and cash transfer to people with severe disabilities.
The CS said social protection is important in reducing poverty among the less fortunate and the vulnerable people.
“You are aware we are not at the same level of social-economic endowment we have the sick,the poor and the disabled and as a country we can not afford to leave anyone behind we must find a middle ground,” he added.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection will have a conference next week which is aimed at scaling up the investment in social protection.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to grace the opening of the conference.
Among the participants expected include Cabinet Secretaries,Principal Secretaries, Heads of Government Agencies,Governors,Heads of delegation from African countries among other high profile guest speakers.
The conference will cover issues related to the linkages between social protection,SDGs and the vision 2030,sustainable social protection financing,social protection in the changing world among other issues.
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