Over 1.76 million Inua Jamii beneficiaries risk missing cash transfers due to budget shortfall

The government has extended the deadline for Inua Jamii cash transfer withdrawals to March 15, 2025. (Photo: Labour Ministry)

By Lucy Mumbi
Wednesday, March 12, 2025

The funding gap resulted from President William Ruto’s directive to expand the programme without a corresponding increase in budget allocation.

Over 1.76 million elderly persons, orphans, vulnerable children and persons with severe disabilities under the Inua Jamii cash transfer programme risk missing out on payments between March and June 2025 due to a Sh16.958 billion budget shortfall.

According to the National Assembly’s Labour and Social Protection Committee, the funding gap resulted from President William Ruto’s directive to expand the programme without a corresponding increase in budget allocation.

More To Read

The committee has warned that if the Treasury does not factor in the deficit in the Supplementary Budget II, beneficiaries will go unpaid for four months.

“Following the presidential directive to upscale the Inua Jamii Programme, approximately 500,000 beneficiaries have been enrolled from June 2024, and thus the total number of beneficiaries has increased to 1.76 million,” committee chairperson Alice Ng’ang’a said in a report scrutinising the Supplementary Estimates II for the 2024/25 financial year.

“This leaves a funding gap of Sh16.958 billion in the remaining four months of the financial year and the coming financial year. If this funding gap is not addressed through this Second Supplementary Estimates, the elderly persons, orphans, vulnerable children, and persons with severe disabilities under Inua Jamii will not receive any cash transfers from March to June 2025.”

The Inua Jamii programme provides a monthly stipend of Sh2,000 to elderly citizens, orphans, vulnerable children, and persons with severe disabilities. However, with the budget already stretched, the committee is urging the National Executive to intervene and secure funding for the programme.

Principal Secretary for Social Protection and Senior Citizens Affairs Joseph Motari told the committee on March 6, 2025, that as of December 2024, the department had spent Sh25.6 billion out of its total budget of Sh36.41 billion.

“This translates to an absorption level of 70.31 per cent. The high absorption level was due to full-year access under the Development Budget of the Kenya Social Economic Inclusion Programme (KSEIP I) that was ending in December 2024, as well as third-quarter access of the Inua Jamii Programme under the Recurrent Budget,” Motari explained.

Expanded programme

In 2023, President Ruto directed Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Florence Bore to expand the programme by 500,000 beneficiaries, stating that the government was committed to cushioning vulnerable groups from poverty and improving their livelihoods.

Government projections indicate that the budget for elderly cash transfers will increase by Sh15 billion over three years, reaching Sh45 billion by June 2027. The number of elderly beneficiaries is expected to grow from 1.25 million in June 2024 to 1.89 million by mid-2027, with an additional 638,386 elderly Kenyans expected to be registered.

Between 2021/22 and 2023/24, the government increased the number of elderly cash transfer beneficiaries from 756,935 to 1.25 million, reflecting a 65 per cent growth over three years.

Despite this expansion, the current funding gap threatens to disrupt payments, raising concerns about the sustainability of the programme and the well-being of millions of Kenyans who depend on the stipends for survival.

Meanwhile, the government has disbursed Sh3.52 billion to support 1,761,897 beneficiaries under the Inua Jamii programme.

According to the State Department for Social Protection and Senior Citizen Affairs, the payments began on Monday, March 10, 2025, with each beneficiary receiving Sh2,000 for the February 2025 cycle.