NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 6 – Hundreds of thousands of youths who were enlisted under the government-sponsored National Hygiene Program (NHP) dubbed Kazi Mtaani will be paid by Monday next week.
Principal Secretary in the State Department of Housing and Urban Development Charles Hinga on Friday said the delayed Kazi Mtaani payments will be processed over the weekend with the subsequent disbursement to be concluded by Monday.
Close to 500,000 youths have since taken part in the programme that was launched by the government in July as part of mitigation measures aimed at cushioning the youths from the adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We thank the youth who have dedicated their time and energy towards the success of Kazi mtaani, which is a critical National Government COVID-19 mitigation programme aimed at supporting and sustaining livelihoods,” Hinga said.
A total of Sh10 billion was set aside by the government to facilitate the implementation of the programme whose sole objective was premised on providing a form of social protection for workers whose prospects for daily or casual work was disrupted by the effects of COVID-19.
Currently, enlisted workers from Nairobi, Kisumu, and Mombasa counties earn a daily wage of Sh653 while workers from all other municipalities earn a daily wage of Sh600.
Payments are made once a week through mobile money transfer.
The first phase of the programme focused on informal settlements in the counties of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kiambu, Nakuru, Kisumu, Kilifi, Kwale, and Mandera. These counties were hard hit by the first instances of COVID-19 and the subsequent cessation of movement policy initiated to contain the spread of the virus.
In these counties, the youths worked on the national initiative designed to cushion the most vulnerable but able-bodied citizens living in the informal settlements from the effects and response strategies of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The progamme was overseen by the County Implementation Committees (CICs) led by the respective County Commissioners, with County Secretaries as deputy chairs and County Directors of Housing serving as secretaries to the CICs.
A total of Sh342 million has so far been disbursed to cover for the phase one of the programme that covered the work done in the initial 8 counties.
Phase one of the project was launched on April and ended on June after the period of 22 days of work elapsed. The project was however, extended for an additional one month to allow for planning for Phase II to be completed.
Phase two of the project has been ongoing from July and is expected to end on December.
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