Socio-economic impact of cash transfer programme on the elderly in Mulundi sub-location, Kitui county, Kenya

Abstract

Older Persons Cash Transfer (OPCT) is a programme that was introduced in Kenya in 2006 to provide financial assistance to the elderly people in the country. The budget for the programme has consistently increased since inception but vulnerability and poverty rates among the elderly population still remain high. There is minimal information and data to show the socio-economic impacts of the programme in Kitui. The main objective of this study was to establish social and economic impacts of the programme in Mulundi sublocation of Kitui County. The study area is located in an arid and semi-arid region where income generating activities are rare and food production is limited due to unpredictable weather resulting to low food production and poverty. This study adopted a cross-sectional mixed methods approach to investigate the impacts of OPCT using both quantitative and qualitative data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0 was applied to generate descriptive statistics. The qualitative data was analyzed through content analysis. A census survey was adopted to collect data from all the 113 registered OPCT beneficiaries in Mulundi sub-location. The study found that majority of the beneficiaries were female (58%) compared to men (42%). Majority of the beneficiaries (72%) were aged between 65 and 75 years old. Apart from the few elderly (21%) who had alternative sources of income, majority (79%) depended on OPCT as the main source of income for their upkeep. The alternative sources of income included sales from farms produce and small businesses. Most of beneficiaries used the cash grants to buy food (44%), pay school fees (30%) while others spent on health care and medical bills (12%) and buying clothing (10%). Most of the participants in this study (73%) enjoyed good intra-household relationship with their family members. More women (63%) most of them windowed (53%) than men (37%) benefited from the cash transfer. We found that (41%) of the beneficiaries of cash transfer had an average of 4-6 dependants per household. Due to age limit 32% of the elderly rarely got involved while 25% were totally never involved in community development activities. This study revealed that the cash transfer should have an increment of the monthly since most of the beneficiaries (86%) expressed that the current amount (KShs. 2000 per month) was not adequate. The programme was rated 70% successful although a majority of the beneficiaries (57%) felt not satisfied with the programme. This study established several challenges hindering realization of socioeconomic impacts of cash transfer in the study area. These include inadequate and irregular disbursement of grants, poor management and lack of proper coordination in the programme, lack of proper channel to resolve complaints from the beneficiaries, increased cost of living, corruption and lack of transparency in the programme. This study recommend that all the stakeholders should put controls and enhance management of the programme so that the intended objectives can be achieved.