UK government offers Sh144 Million support to 10,000 families in MombasaThe British government will roll out a stimulus package of Sh144 million (£1 million) towards the support of vulnerable families in Mombasa.
On Tuesday, a delegation from the UK led by British High Commissioner to Kenya Jane Mariott paid a courtesy call to Governor Hassan Joho when the announcement was made.
In the programme, an estimated 10,000 people within the informal settlements of Mombasa will benefit from cash transfers courtesy of the stimulus package. This is expected to ease their burden at a time when the economy has taken a downturn due to coronavirus pandemic.
The British Embassy in Nairobi said that the money will go towards rent payment, buying food and other basic items a household requires.
“Coronavirus pandemic is global: we are all in this together. Across the world, there is a significant impact on people’s jobs and livelihoods,” Mariott stated before adding “Cash enables families to buy what they urgently need.”
“This support will also stimulate the wider local economy as most of the basic items are supplied by small business owners living within their communities”.
Joho said that UK’s compassion is a great act of humanity.
“It’s not just about philanthropy but more to do with humanity. This means a lot to the people of Mombasa and the country at large,” said Joho.
While thanking the UK government, Joho said that such initiatives should be emulated to help and mitigate those hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The devastation occasioned on the world economy by the Covid-19 pandemic, can amongst many other things be mitigated through initiatives meant to resuscitate the economies at the grassroots,” quipped Joho.
Mombasa is part of UK’s initiative to mitigate the effects of coronavirus among the vulnerable households in Kenya.
A further 50,000 vulnerable people have also been identified and will be receiving monetary help though UK-Aid-funded Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP).
The initiative will gobble up Ksh717 million.
HSNP has disbursed cash in past programmes to over 600,000 people in four counties in Northern Counties since 2007.
