Elderly people at Nyamakoroto slum area within Teachers estate in Nakuru town have petitioned local leaders to include them in the Elderly Persons Cash Transfer Programme.
The more than ten aged people who live at a disputed ownership piece of land in the estate said they have no information about how they can access the cash that is being enjoyed by other Kenyans. The group says it has been marginalised and now wants help from local leaders.
“We know that the programme exists to benefit people with poor backgrounds like us but we have no idea how to go about gaining access to the money. We need assistance,” said Mzee Ndung’u Kihara aged 85.
Ndung’u is also the spokesman of the group which resides at the slums near the Kenya Industrial Training Institute along The Nakuru-Nyahururu highway. The slum is home to more than 50 poor families that over time have had to cope with forced eviction threats from private developers who claim ownership to the land.
A local NGO that deals with land and settlement of marginalised people, the Muungano Federation of Kenya, Nakuru Region, has been defending the squatters.
Area chief, Mary Kamau, says the elders should visit her office to get more information about how they can benefit from the elderly persons cash transfer programme.