EDITORIAL: Strengthen Kazi Mtaani – Business Daily

At a time most households are struggling to put food on the table, Members of Parliament are wrong in their quest to halt Kazi Mtaani.

The initiative has put money in the pockets of thousands of desperate Kenyans who lost income amid Covid-19 restrictions.

The partial lockdown that was imposed in April and closure of businesses to curb the spread of coronavirus had punitive economic effects on many, especially rural poor and those living in informal settlements.

The lawmakers told Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani that the initiative is not viable and the government needs to go back to the drawing board in “a bid to structure the project in an efficient way”.

Halting it will push beneficiaries further into economic pain. Instead, MPs should push for changes to make the programme efficient.

The legislators are right to demand changes. For the project to achieve its goals, the implementation should be above board.

Let the initiative not be another platform for greedy public servants to steal from taxpayers. The jobs should be shared equitably across regions. And it should not cause division among the youth due to the exclusion.

The State should refine Kazi Mtaani without stopping it.