UK to pull out of cash transfer plan for hungry Kenyans

What you need to know:

The Kenyan government will be expected to shoulder the whole cost of the 20.4 billion (£143 million) the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP).
Households that cannot afford their basic expenses receive cash transfers of about Sh5,400 every two months under the programme.
About 100,000 households, or about 600,000 people, most of them in Turkana, Mandera, Wajir and Marsabit, have benefited from the programme.

The UK government will in six years discontinue its support for a cash-transfer programme targeted at hunger-stricken communities in Kenya.

Britain’s International Development secretary Penny Mordaunt told The Guardian that the Kenyan government would be expected to shoulder the whole cost of the 20.4 billion (£143 million) programme.

The government already supports 65 per cent of the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP) and Ms Mordaunt said the transition was occasioned by Kenya’s “profound success” in the project.

Households that cannot afford their basic expenses receive cash transfers of about Sh5,400 every two months under the HSNP programme.

About 100,000 households, or about 600,000 people, most of them in Turkana, Mandera, Wajir and Marsabit, have benefited from the programme.

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DfID has already committed to help fund the programme for the next five years and has set apart Sh2.8 billion (£19.8m) for the 2019 financial year.

The decision to discontinue Britain’s involvement in the cash-transfer programme comes within the context of a tougher policy stance by the country on development aid.

Ms Mordaunt was quoted by The Guardian newspaper earlier this month saying that the United Kingdom would cut foreign aid to countries that do not “invest in their own people”.

At the time, she said she wanted developing nations to “take responsibility” for expanding the education and healthcare systems in their countries.

HSNP is one of several social safety net programmes run by the government including cash transfers to the elderly people, orphans and to persons with severe disabilities.