Govt introduces Single Registry to effect data sharing

The Government, through the Ministry of East African Community, Labor and Social Services, has introduced Single Registry platform to eliminate double dipping.

The Cabinet Secretary for East African Community, Phyllis Kandie, says the data collection programme will enable the government to consolidate, store, share data and information across the various programmes.

In a bid to improve the management of the cash transfer programs to the elderly, the Ministry of East Africa Community and Special Programmes in collaboration with World Food Program has developed a comprehensive Single Registry set to gather data of the beneficiaries to the Inua Jamii Programme.

The Kenya Single Registry is a platform for information on social protection program. This is aimed at eliminating double dipping where beneficiaries would be able to receive payments from two or more programs

Deputy President William Ruto is expected to launch the Single Registry programme on September 14, 2016.

“The beneficiaries for the cash transfer are based on a preset criteria and the government is using poverty indicators and data collection indicator to identify the recipients,” said Kandie.

World Food Programme Senior Deputy Country Director, Thomas Hansson, says since the program was introduced in Kenya, his organization has invested over 10 million dollars, both financially and on technical support.

The World Food Programme says it is staying on while the Department for International Development (DFID) plans to exit the program by end this year. Other partners include World Bank and UNICEF.

The Government is supporting up to one million poor and vulnerable households in its Cash Transfer Programme, by providing them with health insurance, social security, and cash transfer and bursary schemes.

Beneficiaries of the funds include the older persons above 65 years, orphans and persons with severe disability. The beneficiaries receive a contribution of 2,000 shillings a month. The Ministry is making the payments through the KCB and Equity Bank.

The government has so far disbursed over 400 million shillings.