Needy families have been locked out of a government cash transfer programme over what they describe as ïmpossible standards”.
The Nation visited several households in Mlango Kubwa and Mukuru Kwa Ruben informal settlements in Nairobi, where residents said only women aged between 18 and 35, with more than three children, qualify for the cash transfers.
Teenage mothers aged between 14 and 18 also qualify, but only if they have more than two children. People aged above 50 qualify too.
On March 25, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced a Sh10 billion kitty for “the elderly, orphans and other vulnerable members of our society ... to cushion them from the adverse economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic”.
He said the money would reach the intended beneficiaries through the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.
The Nation visited Mary Wanja in June in Mlango Kubwa, where she lived with her disabled daughter and a two-month old baby. Wanja relied on washing clothes for people, which fetched her Sh2,000 for her monthly rent as well as upkeep for her children.
When the lockdown measures were put in place, the families that gave her work did not call her again.
When Nation visited her again in August, she had not received any assistance, nor heard from the area chief about the cash transfer
“I am very anxious, about whether I will have food tomorrow for my children or a roof over my head,” she told Nation .
Not so far from where she lives, is Mary Wanungari, who has two disabled children. Her grocery business collapsed when Covid-19 set in.
Meanwhile, the Kenya Red Cross warns that more than 1.3 million people are on the verge of starvation. The agency expressed the greatest worry for those living in Nairobi.
Red Cross data shows that 27,200 households — more than double the initial estimates – desperately need food in Kibra.
Mr Joe Mbalu, Kenya Red Cross Society regional manager for Nairobi, Kajiado, Machakos, Kitui and Makueni, said the organisation usually planned for 11,000 people in Nairobi.
Speaking at a panel on food security and climate change last week, Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General Asha Mohammed said Covid-19 had “exacerbated situations that led to food insecurity”: Kenya faces a five-pronged threat of protracted conflict in some agricultural areas, the desert locust outbreak, landslides, famine and floods. Covid-19 came when Kenya had just come from two poor seasons.
Dr Mohammed said the lockdown measures affected those in urban centres the most because it cut supply of food from the rural areas as well as their income. “The informal settlements rely on daily wages, meaning if they cannot work for a day, they are not able to put food on the table.”
