Kenyan youth who took part in the Kazi Mtaani Programme will on Wednesday, March 31, smile all the way to the bank after the state promised to finalise their payments.
In a statement on Tuesday, March 30, Housing and Urban Development Principal Secretary Charles Hinga apologised for the delay despite Ministry of Treasury having set aside Ksh7 billion for the exercise.
"To all Cohort A Kazi Mtaani youth, your payment is being processed, should be paid latest tomorrow. Once again apologies for the delay in payment," he stated.
This comes after uproar from the youth who partook in the nationwide exercise - decrying that they had gone for months without pay.
In mid-February, Treasury CS Ukur Yattani had approved an allocation of Ksh7 billion that was to be paid to 280,000 youth who signed up for the Kazi Mtaani Programme that was rolled out by the state in 2020.
The CS indicated that the money was expected to scale up the programme.
Ksh1 billion will be used to settle monies owed to the youth who took part in the programme but had not been paid for months.
The other Ksh6 billion will be used to commission new youth workers for the programme as well as fund the affordable housing project which is part of President Uhuru Kenyatta's Big Four Agenda.
"Ksh6 billion for consolidation of Kazi Mtaani Programme under the state department for Housing and Urban Development," stated the CS.
The programme was created in April 2020 to help youth that had lost their jobs due to Covid-19 pandemic with each person earning Ksh560 per day while supervisors made Ksh505.
The programme currently employs 280,000 individuals in 900 informal settlements across the country.
Under the program, the youth are expected to work for a maximum of 8 hours five days a week. The program is divided into two phases. In Phase I, the maximum number of days each individual works is 22 days.
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