State: Residents in counties of Kilifi, Mombasa, Kwale and Nairobi to get GoK stipends

Stipends for the locked counties. FILE

The state to roll out stipends to the locked counties in the next 21 days. The Government through a multi-agency team has already embarked on data collection from the said counties. The Counties are Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi and Nairobi.


The stipends will range from Sh 2000-Sh 4000 a month starting from June.

The four counties were locked down since early April when President Uhuru Kenyatta banned movements in and out of the jurisdictions for 21 days to the end of the month.

Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui says the Ministry will be trying to identify and map out the most vulnerable in the country before the rollout of the cash-transfer program.

“We have to take a multi-agency approach. The goal is to start with the most affected counties before rolling out to the entire 47 counties,” he said.

Delivered weekly, the COVID-19 support stipend has since its announcement last week operated as a pilot in Kibra constituency.


President Uhuru Kenyatta backed the administration of the stipend to cushion vulnerable Kenyans along other previously announced interventions including the downward adjustment on both Value Added Tax (VAT) and pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) charges.


“As your Government, we are continuing to work hard to ensure that no one is left behind. We have adopted a pro-poor approach to dealing with this pandemic and its effects knowing that they are disproportionately affected. We shall continue developing and delivering actions that will assist them through this period and while the recovery is underway,” he said in an address to the Nation on April 16.


“The government interventions are also affected as it is dependent on the revenues by the same population it is meant to guard,” he added.


“Employers are trying to hold out as much as possible. Some are digging into reserves but this is not sustainable. Employees can only be kept in jobs if the enterprise is functioning,” noted Federation of Kenya Employers Executive Director Jacqueline Mugo.