Irene Githinji @gitshee
The government has exposed a cartel of civil servants who illegally list themselves as caregivers to beneficiaries of the Sh2,000 monthly stipend under the social protection programme.
Social Protection Principal secretary Nelson Marwa has directed such civil servants to immediately delist themselves and cease collecting the stipends on behalf of the elderly under the guise of being their caregivers.
He said an audit of the programme has revealed a number of officers under his State department were also registered as caregivers to some beneficiaries thereby creating conflict of interest.
Severe punishment
In a directive to all county coordinators yesterday, the PS warned severe punishment to those found listed as caregivers and beneficiaries of the Inua Jamii Programme, saying it is against the tenets of the Public Officers Ethics Act.
“Such officers who are acting as caregivers are in conflict with the regulations governing the social protection programme,” said Marwa.
The PS said the officers should limit themselves to coordinating disbursement of cash to beneficiaries enrolled under the Inua Jamii Cash Transfer programme.
He also gave County Coordinators a three-week ultimatum to conduct due diligence to clean up the caregivers’ list and rid of State officers masquerading as beneficiaries.
The coordinators are required to submit a written confirmation by August 15.
He also directed the coordinators to inform all State officers in counties and sub-counties to comply or risk disciplinary action against the offence.
“Further, you are required to carry out due diligence and ensure compliance and where such cases are unearthed, you are obligated to take remedial action and report to this office,” said Marwa.
The directive comes a few months after Auditor General Edward Ouko pointed out that government could be losing about Sh300 million monthly to cash disbursed “to dead beneficiaries”.
The Auditor General said data shows there were 208 dead beneficiaries between January and February 2015 in several counties sampled but the caregivers continued to collect payments.
Last month, the government released Sh8.5 billion for cash transfer beneficiaries under the four programmes.
Each of the 1.3 million beneficiaries received Sh8,000 to cover four pending months. They were paid under a new model of direct-to-account disbursements to beneficiaries.
Marwa said the new system will ensure that only genuine beneficiaries receive the cash and that it will weed out any bogus people.
Release funds
The PS had ruled out releasing of any funds for beneficiaries without accounts.
This is a departure from the past, where the beneficiaries picked the cash handout from the banks each time it was disbursed.
But now, the new model will see them withdraw the money from their individual bank account at ATMs or over the counter.
The payment plan, dubbed Choice Model, is targeting all beneficiaries who have been receiving the Sh2,000 cash transfer stipends.
In February, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the government had allocated Sh33 billion to scale the social and economic inclusion programme.
In the last six years, the beneficiaries have grown from slightly over 200,000 to 1.3 million currently and a jump in funding from Sh6.5 billion to Sh26 billion in the same period.
“The target of the programme is to streamline our delivery systems so that every Kenyan who needs help can get it. Dignity has been restored; livelihoods have been saved, and we have shown that this family called Kenya takes care of its own,” Uhuru had said then.
