President Uhuru Kenyatta (second right), his deputy William Ruto (right) and other guests during the launch of a social welfare programme at Ihura Stadium in Murang’a County Tuesday. [PHOTO: REBECCA NDUKU/DPPS]

By WAINAINA NDUNG’U

Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta Tuesday launched a Sh12 billion social welfare programme to benefit the poor and the disabled.

Speaking during the launch at General Ihura Stadium in Murang’a County, the President said grassroots leaders who will be key in identifying the beneficiaries will have to ensure that they do their work diligently by picking only the deserving cases.

The programme involves monthly cash transfers to the very needy in society — those aged above 65 years, severely disabled persons, orphaned children and the poorest of the urban poor.

“I repeat that no corruption will be tolerated,” said the President adding that “any malpractice will be punished severely.”

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Uhuru urged those in charge of public resources to ensure that the country did not lose scarce capital through corruption.

Most of the 454,000 beneficiaries in the 2013/14 financial year will receive their allocations through mobile money transfer platform powered by Safaricom.

Safaricom’s pledge

“It is usually an assumption that everyone in this country has a phone but Safaricom will be providing a phone for the aged who do not have one,” pledged Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore.

Deputy President William  Ruto said the Jubilee Government was on track with its election pledges as it had launched four major development programmes in its first nine months in office.

He named the projects as free maternal health care, the improvement of Jomo Kenyatta Airport, launch of the now controversial Standard Gauge Railway line and the one million-acre irrigation scheme in the Tana Delta.

He also pledged more vehicles for security operations to enable Kenyans and investors live in peace.

“The government pledges to open up the social welfare scheme to MPs for transparency and we are asking the legislators to loop in the MCAs in their areas,” said Ruto.

Ruto said recent noise over public sector contracts was as a result of the hard work by the Jubilee Government and compared it to a busy construction site.

The President arrived in Murang’a at around 2pm and went straight into a closed-door meeting with local leaders at the  Murang’a County Assembly.

The President assured local leaders that the contentious border between Murang’a and Kiambu would remain along River Chania but he also asked local leaders to stop bickering over development issues.

At the stadium, the President said Murang’a County had earned a bad name from insecurity as it had gained a dubious reputation of being the base for abductors.