National Assembly on the spot for defunding stipends for the elderly

The National Assembly is on the spot for defunding the cash transfer program for the elderly.

Social Protection Principal Secretary Joseph Motari while appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Implementation said last month’s disbursement of funds to elderly persons had been delayed by failure to allocate funds in the supplementary budget.

The defunding comes even as Parliament lowered the required age for beneficiaries from 70 years to 65 years.

The Committee on Implementation invited the State Department of Social Protection and Senior Citizen Affairs over house resolution on continuous registration of elderly persons who have attained 65 years old for the cash transfer program.

Principal Secretary Joseph Motari decried defunding saying the cash transfer program received no monies in the supplementary budget. As a result the disbursement for last month had been delayed by at least two weeks.

Last month President William Ruto assented to the supplementary budget 2 that allocated an additional Ksh 113 billion to ministries for the year ending June 30th 2025, but no allocation for the elderly persons.

Due to inadequate funding of the cash transfer program, not all registered elderly persons receive the cash from the government.

The committee is now set to engage the treasury over the matter.