Funds for the disabled people unused

By Ally Jamah

Millions of disabled Kenyans are yet to benefit from the Sh200 million funds allocated for them in the current Budget.

The fund’s Board of Trustees was sworn into office in December — six months after the Budget — but its officials say they are not ready to begin disbursing money until March.

"We are still working on the procedures to guide us on the disbursement," the chairperson Phitalis Were Masakhwe said last week.

But some disabled persons have claimed the board is taking unnecessarily too long given that the money has to be disbursed before June or be returned to the Treasury.

"Two months is a rather long time to draft disbursement procedures. They should be faster because time is running out," said Mr Stephen Onyango, a Nairobi resident.

Beneficiaries

The fund is meant for the disabled people who have no other sources of income. Aged persons or single parents with disabled children can also benefit.

President Kibaki assented the Persons with Disability Act in 2003 but the board was set up six years later.

If the money is returned to Treasury, the case for more allocations would be weakened.

Masakhwe assured the beneficiaries that his board is determined to disburse the money as soon as possible.

"We want the money to go out but we don’t want to be seen to be just dishing it out for the sake of it. We want it to reach where it is needed most," he said.

Analysts have expressed concern that many disabled people are still not aware of the existence of the fund while others are not empowered in proposal-writing skills.

Mr Kibaya Laibuta, a member of the board and chair of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities, said they would be pushing for more allocation in next year’s Budget.