State releases Sh9.1m for orphans

By Nicholas Anyuor and Ken Miruka

Government has disbursed Sh9.1 million towards education and healthcare of more 9,000 orphans and vulnerable children in Homa Bay and Ndhiwa districts.

Under the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Cash Transfer Programme, the fund is targeting 3,029 households hosting a total of 9,333 needy children.

According to Homa Bay District Children Officer Patrick Isadia, every household in the four locations they identified would receive Sh3,000.

The local town and East Kanyada location in Homa Bay and East Kwabwai and West Kabuoch locations in Ndiwa have been earmarked for the exercise.

The programme was necessitated by increased death rate in the regions owing to HIV and Aids pandemic.

"We are facing a challenge because the number of orphans and vulnerable children is increasing and a lot still needs to be done," Mr Isadia said.

The officer, however, advised the caretakers to ensure the money is used for the intended purpose.

Yesterday marked the beginning of the disbursement of the funds.

And speaking in Gucha, Provincial Children Officer Charles Odongo said 26,000 households would benefit from the subsidy in the province.

More beneficiaries

Mr Odongo said the number of beneficiaries had risen from 15,902 households in December last year to 26,894 households in February.

Speaking during a one-day training workshop for location committees spearheading the programme, he said more households would benefit due to additional funding from donors.

"Locations to be included in the scaled up programme were identified using statistics from the Kenya Integrated Baseline Household Survey. Information gathered would be vetted to ensure only deserving cases benefit," said the officer.

He said a potential beneficiary list would be drawn by the Gender ministry and endorsed by the community.

The beneficiaries’ information will be verified based on poverty index and other economic indicators and then households will be ranked according to need.

Ondogo said the World Bank would fund the programme in Gucha while Unicef will fund six districts including Rachuonyo and Siaya.