Elderly persons who qualify to be beneficiaries of the Cash Transfer for Elderly Persons have been advised to beware of conmen who are going around in Tigania East, Meru County purporting to register them at a fee, so that they can be beneficiaries of the Fund.
Meru County Director for Gender and Social Development Mutea Rukwaru said the Cash Transfer Fund for the Elderly was a government program initiated through the Ministry of Gender and Social Services.
Rukwaru said it is only genuine people aged over 65 years who could be beneficiaries of the Fund noting they were not supposed to pay any amount of money to groups or individuals.
He said the conmen in Tigania East had collected KES 7,000 from unsuspecting individuals calling themselves Mau Mau group only to realize they had been conned.
Rukwaru added that the man behind the syndicate had been arrested, and that the group was advised to register as a welfare group under the Department of Social services.
"So far 184 elderly people have benefited from the Fund and they are paid KES 2,000 per month," said Rukwaru.
He said they were identified through a social services committee which makes home visits to ensure the beneficiaries are genuine, that they do not have any children who are working, and that they should not be pensioners or have children who are employed, and that they should have an orphan or someone who is disabled or terminally ill within the family.
Once the persons are identified, a public meeting is held where the public states that the beneficiaries are genuine following their validation, and they are officially accepted as beneficiaries of the Fund.
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