Economy

WB supports plan to expand stipend for the elderly

wb

World Bank Country Director Johannes Zutt (right) and the bank’s Lead Economist Wolfgang Fengler at a media briefing in Nairobi on Friday. The bank is among donors funding the cash transfer programme for the elderly. Photo/Diana Ngila

An assessment on the impact of the current stipend given to people aged more than 60 in selected arid and semi arid areas showed that recipients enjoyed better health, participated in local markets and supported their dependants through school.

“Research has shown that if the money is put into appropriate use, it reduces poverty significantly,” said Johannes Zutt, the country director of the World Bank in Kenya.

The Kenya government and a number of donors, including the World Bank, have been carrying cash transfer programme to the elderly, the extremely poor households with orphaned and vulnerable children, people with disabilities as well as targeted poor households in slums areas.

Speaking to the media last week on Friday, Mr Zutt said research also showed that the stipend had greater impact when resources were directed to households headed by women.

Alliances looking to win the coming General Election such as Cord, Jubilee and Amani have proposed to give cash to the vulnerable people once they take power.

Only Amani coalition led by Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi has specified the amount to be given to those above 70 years at Sh5,000.

Scaling the number of beneficiary households to one million, for example at Sh2,000 each – as is currently the amount for the households — would require the exchequer to raise Sh2 billion a month or Sh24 billion a year.

(Read: Cash transfers to all unworkable, say experts)

According to a December 2012 report of the World Bank, the coverage of the programme continued to expand in Fiscal Year 2012/13 and 151,243 households are currently enrolled in 69 districts.

There has been a commensurate increase in financing to the programme such that by the end of the financial year 2011/12, its budget was Sh3.36 billion while that for FY2012/13 is Sh4.38 billion.

The report said all sampled households visited had at least one orphan and nearly 58 per cent of the beneficiaries were double orphans.

“The caregivers (to the orphans) reported that the programme had improved their economic status. It had enabled them to purchase more food, school uniforms and medicine. The report shows that overall, caregivers reported a satisfaction index of 67.4 per cent,” said the report.

Of concern, the report said, was the timeliness of payments as only 19 per cent of them are made within the stipulated two-week payment window and 31 per cent of payments are made more than a month late.

“This highlights the need as previously agreed to convene discussions with the Treasury and to explore ways within the programme to improve predictability of government funds flow,” said the report.

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