Social protection is a fundamental human right and a central cog in the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Kenya’s Constitution demands that the State offer citizens social protection.

Article 43 guarantees the “right for every person to social security and binds the state to provide appropriate social security to persons who are unable to support themselves and their dependents”.

This is closely linked to the right to healthcare, human dignity, reasonable working conditions, and access to justice. Kenya’s social protection policy is anchored on four pillars: income security, social health, shock-responsive social protection, and complementary programmes. The whole conversation is that social protection holds the future of many workers, most of them young people.

To say that President William Ruto’s handling of social protection has been disappointing is an understatement. Social protection programmes have consistently been considered plum cash cows by successive governments. Thousands of pensioners live in penury due to delayed remittances of their dues.

Many Kenyans now pay their medical bills from their own pockets due to a failed health insurance programme.

This defeats the intentions of the social health pillar, that refers to interventions that protect citizens against health risks and burdens throughout their life cycle, ensuring all citizens against health hazards and preventing unexpected out-of-pocket health expenditures that may threaten their income security.

Equally, victims of economic shocks such as droughts, floods, forced displacement, and pandemics end up selling assets, using their children for labour or forcing them in early marriages.

This is because cash for emergency campaigns is often stolen by government officials. Kenyans should therefore be concerned about a report from the Auditor General on how various government entities spent Sh28.7 billion to support various cash transfer programmes.

A report for FY2023/2024 for the State Department for Social Protection unmasks massive corruption including overpayment of beneficiaries, caregivers supporting multiple households, repeat unsuccessful credit transactions and poor controls over data input and validation.

The auditor also revealed that various parcels of land for children’s remand homes, and rehabilitation and rescue centres lack ownership documents and have been encroached on. It is not difficult to point out the motive of the double payments and those responsible. This government must stop playing roulette with social protection.