NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 8 — Kenya needs to close the gap between recognising people as older persons at 60 and providing them with an Older Persons Cash Transfer at 70, Suqoon Founder Shakira Khawaja has said.

📻 Breaking It Down

Khawaja said the country’s expanding social protection system must move beyond responding to crises and provide earlier support to protect older people’s health, income, independence and dignity.

Speaking at the Fourth Kenya Social Protection Conference at the Kenya School of Government in Kabete, she called for a clear pathway to bridge the decade-long gap in protection for older people.

“We worked hard for people to live longer. Now let us make sure our systems are ready for those longer lives, and that those lives are lived with function, contribution and dignity,” Khawaja said.

📌 What You Need to Know

Suqoon, a Kenyan Public Benefit Organisation committed to ensuring older persons are valued, included and supported to thrive, is advocating for preventive approaches that address risks before they result in loss of health, mobility, income or independence.

Khawaja’s call comes as the Government moves to expand social protection, with President William Ruto committing to establish and capitalise a Social Protection Fund, make benefit indexation predictable and expand coverage to 2.5 million households.

Ruto, in a speech read on his behalf by Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua at the conference’s opening, also directed that a national school meals programme be rolled out across all 47 counties in the first term of 2027.

The challenge is expected to grow as Kenya’s older population increases.

The number of Kenyans aged 60 and above is projected to rise from about 2.9 million currently to 6.4 million by 2045, according to specialists briefing the media ahead of Kenya’s inaugural International Day of Older Persons national celebration.

Khawaja said social protection and healthcare should be considered together, arguing that relatively small interventions can prevent health problems from becoming wider economic and social crises.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya