Kazi Mtaani workers receive overdue payments

 

The national steering committee of the Kazi Mtaani programme has disbursed the latest payment for cohort A workers.

Housing PS Charles Hinga said in a statement on Sunday that Sh702 million had been sent to 99 per cent of the workers. 

The remaining one per cent, some 712 workers, are yet to receive cash because of ID mismatch, inactive phone lines and for numbers not registered on M-Pesa.

On Friday, Hinga said workers in Cohort A of the Kazi Mtaani programme would receive their delayed payment by Monday.

The delay in payment was caused by the slow pace of the Controller of Budget in processing and releasing funds, Hinga said. 

“Nonetheless, the State Department of Housing is working expeditiously to resolve the matter and payment will be processed and disbursed over the weekend to be completed by Monday, November 9, 2020,” Hinga said on Friday.

The department regretted the inconveniences caused by the delay, but Hinga called on the workers to be patient as they resolve the issue.

The Kazi Mtaani programme employs 283,210 youths as workers and supervisors countrywide for 11 days every month.

Each earns Sh455 daily while supervisors take home Sh505 each per day, according to the Housing and Urban Development department.

Payment is via M-Pesa only after Safaricom waived the recovery of Fuliza loans to save indebted youths from the automatic recovery of cash lent from the earnings.

According to Hinga, M-Pesa payments ensure transparency and accountability. 

The PS said the first cycle of payments had a 92 per cent success rate. The remaining eight per cent had issues with registration details.

In the wake of Covid-19, Kazi Mtaani has kept the 18-35 age category youths across the country engaged in access roads construction, clearing of drainages, tree planting and garbage collection in their localities.

Phase one of the programme was rolled out by President Uhuru Kenyatta on April 25 as an economic stimulus to mitigate the adverse effects Covid-19 in the informal settlements. 

Phase Two was launched in July with the focus on sustainable work in public spaces like schools, libraries, toilets, footpaths, painting and paving roads with cobblestones.

The programme is expected to end in December but beneficiaries across the country have called on the government to extend it.