Government urged to reduce age of beneficiaries of Inua Jamii stipends

Malindi,

Friday, September 15, 2023

KNA by Emmanuel Masha

Senior citizens in Malindi constituency have asked the government to reduce the minimum age in which Kenyans could benefit from the Older Persons Cash Transfer (OPCT) under the National Safety Net Programme - Inua Jamii.

They claimed that the minimum age of 70 was too high and was locking out highly deserving cases and proposed a minimum age of 60 years which they said was more appropriate since that was the retirement age for persons in formal employment in Kenya.

Speaking at the Ganda Chief’s office in Ganda Ward during the registration of senior citizens and persons with disabilities into the Inua Jamii programme, the senior citizens also called for a change in the mode of payment to make it easier for beneficiaries to access the funds.

Ganda Ward Member of County Assembly Oscar Wanje said the minimum age had locked out people who were in dire need of assistance, adding that some people were older than the age indicated in their National Identity Cards as they were not able to declare their dates of birth due to high illiteracy levels.

“The minimum age is too high. It is my humble appeal that this is looked into because many persons aged 65 to 68 years have been turned away,” he said.

Wanje however lauded the government for its efforts to increase the number of beneficiaries of the Inua Jamii programme through mass registration.

He proposed that a door-to-door registration programme be initiated to capture deserving cases who could not travel to the registration centres.

He called for a change in the mode of payment to make the funds more beneficial, noting that the current mode of paying through physically visiting financial institutions was too expensive and the funds ended up being spent on transport.

Mr. Moses Mwagandi from Kwa Upanga village said many deserving people had not been captured in the registration exercise because they were unable to travel to the registration centres due to old age and disabilities. He called for a mechanism to reach them.

Atie Yusuf from Ganda ward said since the ages of some older persons were guessed because of illiteracy, the registration officials should use other means to determine whether the persons have reached the minimum age to benefit from the stipends.

“Let them also look at the people's faces to determine whether they have reached 70 years. My mother has been turned away because the ID card indicates that she is 52 years old when I, her fifth born, am 53 years old,” she said.

A similar sentiment was echoed by Nyevu Chula from Ganda location, who said despite the fact that she was older than 70 years, her National ID Card indicated she was 66 years old and that ineligible to benefit from the stipends.

Courtesy; KNA