Monthly stipends for the elderly, orphans to be adjusted for inflation

“The [the National Board for Social Protection] may, in consultation with the National Treasury, periodically review the social assistance benefits provided under this Act to accommodate changes in real value,” reads part of the Social Protection Bill, 2025 which was tabled in the National Assembly by the Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wah.

Inflation-adjusted stipends mean that beneficiaries would get higher payouts to counteract the rising cost of living and help them maintain their purchasing power.

Since Kenya unveiled the Inua Jamii programme in 2013, the monthly stipend to beneficiaries, mostly senior citizens, orphans, and persons with disabilities, has remained at Sh2,000.

The Inua Jamii initiative has four safety programmes including Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC), Older Persons Cash Transfer (OPCT), Persons with Severe Disabilities Cash Transfer (PWSD-CT) and the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP).

However, prices of critical items--captured through changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), or the cost-of-living index computed by the national statistician--increased over this period, which means the purchasing power of the Sh2,000 monthly stipends have been significantly eroded.

Following changes to CPI in March 2020, the Nairobi Lower Income households have a monthly income of up to Sh46,355 per month, Sh1,545.

This means the Sh2,000 monthly stipends are only enough for a day’s upkeep in Kenya’s capital city, though it might be different in other parts of the country, especially in rural areas. 

Several studies have shown that the real value of programme like Inua Jamii has been significantly eroded over time due to inflation.

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef) has been at the forefront, recommending further analysis and the implementation of an indexing policy to ensure the adequacy and impact of social protection programs in light of a surge in living costs.

In a desktop analysis, Unicef argued that the currently fixed amounts given to beneficiaries of Inua Jamii represent a significantly lower proportion of household consumption expenditure compared to when the programs were launched more than a decade ago.

The International Labour Organisation advocates for the indexation of social protection benefits as a key mechanism to ensure their adequacy and protect beneficiaries from poverty and social exclusion in the face of rising prices.

It is common for trade unions, through their collective bargaining agreements, to push for indexation of their salaries and retirement benefits.

In the Social Protection Bill, there are also plans to expand the menu of beneficiaries of social assistance to include workers who lose their jobs to economic shocks such as a major disruption in the global supply chain or recession.

Those hit by economic shocks will be among the beneficiaries of the monthly stipend the government currently gives to the elderly, persons with disabilities, and orphans.

The government’s budget for cash transfers to elderly citizens is projected to rise by Sh15 billion over the three years to June 2027, as the government embarks on a major recruitment exercise that will see the number of beneficiaries rise to about 1.9 million.

Read: MPs summon PS Kiptoo over Sh100m Inua Jamii budget cut

Government projections show that the cash transfer programme for elderly citizens plans to register an additional 638,386 elderly Kenyans to benefit from the support between the current fiscal year and June 2027.

→ [email protected]