News

Poor splash Treasury stipend on meat, rice

cash

Poor households receive the Sh5,100 stipend every two months. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Poor households in the arid north counties that get government stipends splash on luxury meals and debt repayment on payday before resuming their deprived lifestyle almost immediately, a survey has found.

An evaluation of Kenya’s Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP) by the Oxford Policy Management shows that cash disbursed to poor households in the counties of Turkana, Marsabit, Wajir and Mandera  is all spent in one day, after which the beneficiaries begin borrowing again for survival.

The poor households, which receive the Sh5,100 stipend every two months, enjoy the temporary pleasures on payday, but also spend part of the cash on debt repayment, small home improvements and investments in micro businesses.

“On payday, people splash out on luxury foods such as meat, vegetables, milk, sugar and rice. These are not bought in large quantities, just enough for the household to eat well that day,” the report says.

READ: Monthly pay, free medical cover for over 70s next year

The Hunger Safety Net Programme is separate from another Treasury-funded cash transfer scheme for poor, elderly citizens, which will from next year be extended to cover all Kenyans aged above 70 years.

Traders and shopkeepers in the centres where the cash is disbursed are a happy lot as business booms with increased customer traffic on payday when most people who may not have otherwise visited the towns arrive to collect their stipends.

The programme, which is partly donor-funded and currently in its second phase, has seen some 275,978 households registered with active accounts.

However only 84,619 that are classified as Group 1 beneficiary households receive the stipend regularly.