MPs fault cash transfer programme for elderly

Legislators yesterday criticized the old persons cash transfers program to citizens aged 70 years and above terming it a conduit of corruption thanks to its opaque operations.

During a debate of the Social Protection Bill, 2025 on the floor of the House, MPs also called for an increase in the Sh2,000 amount doled out to the elderly and an implementation of stronger administrative mechanisms to guard the purse.

Notably, the Bill proposes for the creation of a board to administer how the cash transfer program will be run and which will have powers to determine who will be eligible for cash transfer. It will also be in charge of the terms and conditions of under which social protection benefits may be granted, and handling grievances and case management procedures.

The Bill, which is in the second reading stage, further seeks to expand the bracket of the cash transfer program from just the old and orphans in society, but also to persons living with disability, persons living in extreme poverty and those affected by shocks.  

It will also provide an appeals mechanism for those who are not beneficiaries but wish to be by taking up the matter at the High Court.

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“An Act of Parliament to provide for a framework for the administration of non-contributory social protection interventions: to establish the national board for social protection and connected purposes,” reads the Bill in part.

And while expressing their support for the Bill during the debate, MPs noted that it would introduce the much needed change and oversight in the administration of the cash transfer program.

Suna West MP Peter Masara called for an increase of the funds from Sh2,000 to more.

“The beneficiaries of the Social Protection Bill are people who are really in need of our support, more so as leaders. In Kenya today, the vulnerable in society are benefitting, but at the time the programme started, they were being given Sh2,000. For some time now, the dollar has been at Sh160, but these people are still being given Sh2,000,” he stated.

“I' supporting this Bill, but with one condition that we need to merge the two bills, because we don't want the social protection bill to give people tokens.”

Kwanza MP Ferdinand Wanyonyi submitted that the money given to cash transfers is part of corruption in this country.

“Money is not being transferred properly. That money sometimes never reaches the people it's supposed to reach,” he said.

His Nyatike counterpart, Tom Odege, raised concern over the opaqueness in the criteria of enrolment for the elderly saying that the Bill in consideration would cure the same.

“If you are in your constituency today, you'll find people who are over 70 and are not benefitting, and they are questioning why their neighbors are benefitting, and they are not listed. If we come up with a very clear criterion where when you attain a certain age and you are vulnerable, you are automatically listed. It will bring equity and fairness,” he observed.

Imenti North MP Rahim Dawood reiterated, “There's no transparency in the number of people who are getting this money. And we need to know how to devolve this process. They cannot be told that a whole constituency comes to one place to collect the money. We need this board to streamline how these people are going to get the money.”

Samburu East MP Jackson Lekumontare was also not left behind in apportioning blame on the current program and advocating for better.

“There's a lot of corruption even in this fund, where people are being told to give something so that you can get your money. And the government should have another way of identifying these people if the fingerprint fails, because people who have never taken alcohol are told to go and take alcohol so that their fingerprint can work.”