America can teach Kenya how to care for its poor

Have you ever wondered how millions of unemployed Kenyans survive without any income or government assistance?

What about the old who need medical care but have no health insurance?

How do those who lose all their property to floods, mudslides and fire pick up the pieces and manage to move on with their lives?

Do the weak and vulnerable in society have a right to demand for assistance from the government?

Or is the current system where every Kenyan fends for himself the true meaning of being a capitalist state?

In the United States, which is considered the most capitalistic state in the world, about three million unemployed Americans heaved a sigh of relief last week after Congress passed a vote that allowed them to continue earning unemployment pay cheques for six more months.

The US government will spend an equivalent of Sh2.7 trillion ($34 billion) to pay monthly stipends to unemployed people in the period. 

Jobless people

The allowances are calculated based on income that jobless people used to earn in their previous employment. 

The emergency unemployment benefits programme was put in place to cushion Americans who lost jobs during the economic recession triggered by the 2008 financial crisis.

This lifeline had been cut off since early June amid political grandstanding by the Republicans, who opposed the Democrats’ proposal to extend the payouts arguing that they were inflating an already ballooning federal government deficit.

President Barack Obama said approval of the package would ensure that Americans who have lost their jobs in the economic downturn are able to meet their basic needs, as they search for new employment.

That is not all, the Democrats are pushing for Congress’ approval of an even bigger budget of $200 billion targeted at social security programmes such as health insurance subsidies for the unemployed, tax incentives, and government backed soft loans to small businesses.

When flash floods and storms hit Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky in May killing close to 30 people and damaging thousands of homes, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) rushed to the victims’ rescue, writing them cheques of up to $30,000 (Sh2.4 million) to help them get back on their feet.

Meanwhile, government supervised payment of claims to fishermen, boat and restaurant owners, and other oil related industry workers have been going on at the Gulf of Mexico Coast where the worst oil spill in US history has disrupted the livelihoods of thousands of households since April following the explosion of a deepwater oil rig.