Raila defends Sh6,000 promise to households

Azimio la Umoja Presidential Candidate Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua during the sit-down with journalists in Nairobi [Dennish Ochieng’, Standard]

Azimio la Umoja Presidential candidate Raila Odinga says the Sh6,000 monthly stipend to families is a social protection program.

In an interview broadcast on five television stations and several radio stations in the country, Raila and his running mate Martha Karua enumerated their agenda. Key among them being the Sh6,000 stipend promise.

“We are talking about a number of Kenyans who live below the poverty line; about 2 million families with a model of four people per family, then you’re talking about 8 million people which translates to 12 billion shillings per month. That works to 144 billion shillings per year. We know the kind of pilferages and loss,” said Raila.

The former Prime Minister then went ahead to demonstrate where the money would come from.

“The President [Uhuru Kenyatta] one day talked about 2 billion shillings per day that is lost to corruption. President Obama also put it about 700 billion shillings. Most of that money is being lost through procurement and also through collections. If you basically try to lock this, you can have a saving of about 500 billion shillings,” explained Raila.

According to Raila, the Sh6,000 not a fictitious figure, rather it is a programme that is realistic.

“This amount will bring beneficiaries to the minimum level of under three dollars per day. They will be able to live like other people. It is not just a wish, but an investment,” explained Raila.

The Azimio flagbearer has also maintained that his government will not scrap the Inua Jamii program.

“This is over and above Inua Jamii. It is targeting specific families who have been profiled by the National Bureau of Statistics,” he said.

The model according to Odinga is not a foreign concept.

 “It is not being introduced in this country alone. It is something that exists in other countries such as the UK and other European countries, the United States, Brazil and here in the continent, Egypt and Namibia. In fact, it is a Kenyan who helped to design the Namibia programme who is working with our experts here,” said Raila.

On her part, Martha Karua said s is banking on Kenyans to help in the fight against corruption to seal the loopholes.

“It is more than just going to court. It involves giving the public confidence that the government is serious about what it is doing, so that the public can be partners in the fight against corruption.” She said.