Mombasa, KENYA: The government has disbursed over sh. 60 billion aimed at empowering the youth since the Jubilee administration came to power in 2013, a senior government official has said.
Speaking to hundreds of elders at the Tononoka Social Hall on Monday, Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala noted that the government has rolled out another programme which will officially start operating as from January 2018, targeting all the elders aged 70 years and above throughout the country.
The CS added that despite benefiting from the programme, all the elders within the age bracket will also receive a free medical insurance cover.
“The government has rolled out another programme specifically for youth that will start operating from January 2018. The elders will also receive a free medical insurance cover.” The CS said.
The official however said that since the officials started registering elders throughout the country in June this year, only 600 elders have been registered in Mombasa County and therefore blamed the elders for not turning out in massive numbers which is scheduled to be terminated in the end of August.
He added that the beneficiaries of the on going registration will start receiving money from January 2018.
On the other hand, Dayton Kileta the coordinator of Inua Jamii Cash Transfer in Mombasa County noted that they have targeted to register 7000 elders in all the Mombasa Sub -counties before the end of August.
Kileta urged all the elders within the stipulated age bracket to come out in large number so that they may be enrolled in the programme so that they may receive the sh. 2000 monthly stipend from the government.
“We have targeted to register about 7000 elders in this county alone. I urge all the elders aged above 70 years should come out and register the amount allocated for them by the government.” He said.
He however pointed out that the elders within the county are not well informed about the existence of the programme and promised to conduct a stiff awareness campaign in all the sub-counties within Mombasa County.
At the same time, Shikari Kabani a beneficiary of the Inua Jamii programme applauded the move saying that it has uplifted the standards of living of several elders in the country.
He said that he will spread the idea to other elders who have not been enrolled in the programme.
“This programme has raised the standard of living for dozens of elders within this county who used to live pathetic lives.” The old man said.
The Inua Jamii Cash Transfer Program is a national program under the Ministry of EAC, Labour and Social Protection where the first roll out of the new programme will begin as from January 2018.
