Nairobi, Mombasa slum dwellers to get Sh4,000 cash per month

Some 52,700 individuals in Nairobi and Mombasa informal setlements are set to receive Sh4,000 monthly under a UK-backed cash transfer programme.

The UK government has availed Sh680 million to finance the three-month programme aimed at cushioning residents in 14 informal settlements from Covid-19 economic shocks.

Beneficiaries are identified through databases of registered community-based organisations and payments made through mobile money.

“The programme will help improve livelihood and wellbeing of the beneficiaries and enable them participate in rebuilding of our economy,” said Labour CS Simon Chelungme yesterday.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows an estimated 1.72 million workers lost jobs in three months to June when Kenya imposed coronavirus-induced lockdown. The statistics indicate the number of people in employment fell to 15.87 million between April and end of June compared to 17.59 million the previous quarter.

Young people were the hardest hit by job cuts compared to their counterparts aged above 35 years in an economy plagued by a hiring freeze on the back of sluggish corporate earnings.

Unveiling of the UK-backed cash transfer comes a month after government ended free weekly cash transfers to poor households affected by the economic knocks of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under the terminated programme, some 341,958 households received Sh1,000 weekly stipends since May to cushion them from the dire economic conditions caused by the pandemic.

The government runs the Inua Jamii programme that pays Sh2,000 bi-monthly to more than 1.2 million elderly persons, orphans and the disabled.

The Inua Jamii programme, a flagship project under the social pillar of the Kenya Vision 2030- has so far disbursed Sh166.9 billion.

Beneficiaries under the UK urban digital cash transfer are those that are not covered by the Inua jamii programme.