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Kenya: Cash Transfers to Support People in Asals Exceeded Sh1 Billion in January – Oguna

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Nairobi — The government has estimated funds disbursed through cash transfer to support households in famine-hit areas at over Sh1 billion for the duration of December 2021 to January/February 2022.

Cash transfers are part of government interventions rolled out to alleviate sufferings of Kenyans affected by drought, especially those living in Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) regions.

This effort follows the experiencing drought that is owed to failing rainfall in the last three seasons leading to about 2.8 million Kenyans from 23 ASAL regions facing food distress.

The interventions by the government include, Emergency Relief Cash Transfer which was launched in December ,2021, targeting 225,705 beneficiary households from the affected counties.

Through a press release to the media, the Government Spokesperson, Col. (Rtd) Cyrus Oguna said each beneficiary received Sh3,000 as emergency relief and the total amount disbursed is Sh677,115,000 in the month December, 2021, and another similar amount for January/February, 2022 period.

The second intervention, he added, is Physical Food Distribution whereby due to minor technical challenges experienced with Emergency Cash Transfer affecting a few individuals in the targeted group, the government re-introduced physical food distribution to all the counties as an emergency intervention.

“The amount of food currently being distributed to the counties include, 63,100 (50kg) bags of rice, 62,000 (50kg) bags of beans and 800 cartons of corned beef,” said Oguna, stating that the physical distribution of relief food does not replace the Emergency Cash Transfer but an emergency intervention to help in areas where food may be a challenge to acquire even when one has the money.