Public Service Commission (PSC) has expressed concern that approximately 1,290 unregistered individuals have benefited from cash transfers to poor women with severe disabilities.
According to the audit, 5,570 females were registered to benefit from the Cash Transfer to Persons with Severe Disabilities (PWSD) last year, officials of the State Department for Social Protection made payments to 6,860 individuals, raising concerns over theft through ghost payments totaling Sh31.2 million.
A total of Sh837.51 million was paid out to PWSD with some 27,697 males also benefiting from the cash transfers. It means that each of the 34,539 listed beneficiaries took home Sh24,248.24.
“The State Department for Social Protection should establish the reasons for disbursement made to non-registered persons in the programme for persons with severe disabilities,” the PSC said.
In the past, the cash transfer programme has been marred by scandals in which some officers created phantom beneficiary lists and pocketed the money.
Some rogue officers also manipulated beneficiary lists to include relatives and cronies, preventing many deserving cases from being heard.
Last year, the government continued to implement the Inua Jamii cash transfer programme, which targets older people, orphans and vulnerable children, and people with severe disabilities, through the State Department for Social Protection.
It also implemented two other programmes: The Nutrition Improvement Programme through Cash and Health Education (NICHE) and the Presidential Secondary School Bursary Programme (PSSBP).
Except for NICHE, which targeted five counties, all 47 counties benefited from the four programmes.
As per records, disbursement increased by 1.5 per cent in the 2020/2021 fiscal year, totaling Sh26.6 billion distributed to 1,122,326 people through the five special programmes.
From the 2019/2020 evaluation period, the number of beneficiaries increased by 2.5 per cent.
The Older Persons Cash Transfer programme disbursed the most money, Sh18.3 billion, or 68.9 per cent of the total.
Out of a population of 941,510 older people over the age of 70, 89 per cent benefited from the cash transfer programme, with more females (61 per cent) benefiting from the older people’s cash transfer programme.
Overall, the top beneficiaries by county in the five programmes combined were Murang’a with Sh1.2 billion, Kakamega (Sh1.11 billion), Kitui (Sh1.07 billion, Kiambu (Sh1.07 billion), and Nakuru (Sh944 million).