Senior citizens in Homa Bay want State to abolish biometric machines

Some elderly persons benefiting from the cash transfer programme in Homa Bay County want the government to discontinue the use of biometric machines in paying their stipend.

The elderly persons have complained of the inability of the biometric machines to read their fingerprints on many occasions.

 The senior citizens expressed concerns that they had been turned away because the biometric identification machines could not read their fingerprints.

According to a beneficiary, Mzee Joseph Odundo, the government should allow them to use
 national identification cards instead of the biometric machines.

They said some of them had their fingerprints defaced due to many years of manual jobs.

“Let the government disband use of the biometric machines because we have ID cards that can be used. We are tired of being turned away because the machines don’t detect our fingerprints,” said a beneficiary.

They expressed concerns that the error was making them incur many expenses.

“It is costly to travel to Homa Bay town many times when the machines reject our fingerprints. This forces us to spend a lot of money on transport,” said another senior citizen.

But Homa Bay Sub County Social Development Officer Elizabeth Atieno said the elders should visit their
 respective banks to be paid over the counter.

“Let the affected beneficiaries liaise with their banks so that the anomalies may be rectified by resetting their fingerprints,” Atieno said.