Moyale Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) Patrick Mumali has cautioned disabled persons awarded free tools to start their own enterprises against selling the equipment.
Mumali said the government will audit beneficiaries of assistance to establish whether indeed the donations were translating into improved livelihoods for those given the tools.
He said his office will start monitoring beneficiaries of the NFDK grants to ensure that they don’t abuse the benevolence of their sponsors.
“The government will not allow these tools which have been given for free to be sold out, the Sh200 million allocated to NFDK is sourced from the National Treasury which is taxpayers money and given to persons with disabilities so that one can live a dignified life and then you sell the tools! The government will not allow that to happen,” Mumali said.
He made the remarks when he presided over an occasion to hand over toolkits and walking aids donated by NFDK to people living with disabilities in Moyale.
The DCC said there will be an improvised mechanism of monitoring and evaluating the performance of beneficiaries of the National Fund for the Disabled of Kenya in order to establish whether the donation was improving their social and economic lives.
The NFDK raises Sh100 million from its own sources and gets an allocation of Sh200 million from the National Treasury annually, which it is expected to be used to buy tools of trade for Kenyans living with disabilities
NFDK acting Manager Isaac Aliyah said a total of 15 people living with disabilities from five locations in Moyale sub-county have received the tools under the annual programme
The NFDK manager urged persons with disabilities in Moyale to enlist and solicit for assistance from the fund to uplift their livelihoods.
“I would like to state that the government recognizes and cares for persons with disabilities that is why the fund was started 39 years ago to ensure that they live a productive life and that they can engage in income generating activities of their own choice,” Aliyah said.
The manager called on parents and family members to desist from hiding persons with disabilities, noting that the government has many programmes meant to enhance the social and economic empowerment of persons living with disabilities.
Among the equipment given included salon kits, electric welding machines, barbers tools, tailoring machines, tri-cycles, and elbow walking crutches.