Are Claims That First Lady Rachel Ruto Is Offering Inua Jamii Easy Loans True?

This post from a Facebook account supposedly run by Rachel Ruto claims that the First Lady is offering Inua Jamii Easy loans. The post starts with congratulating previous beneficiaries of the program and continues to urge interested parties to send their active M-Pesa numbers and their loan limits. Details on the amount of interest charged are also shared on the post.

Background

Inua Jamii is the government’s flagship National Safety Net Program for the beneficiaries of: Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC), Older Persons Cash Transfer (OPCT), Persons With Severe Disabilities Cash Transfer (PWSD-CT) and Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP). For CT-OVC, OPCT, PWSD-CT the beneficiaries get Sh2,000 per month and Sh5,400 is paid bi-monthly to HSNP households.

Chiefs and assistant chiefs act as Inua Jamii ambassadors for the beneficiaries and their caregivers. They regularly hold barazas to provide information on cash transfer programs. They majorly provide security for the implementers, report the misuse and disputes related to cash transfers to sub-county officers, and help beneficiaries report death and birth in a family.

Verification

To begin with, the account disseminating this information is not the First Lady’s official account. Her official account does not have this information.

Inua Jamii is not disbursed through M-Pesa, the cash transfers are only made to Co-operative Bank, Equity Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank and Postbank or an authorised bank agent. 

The amount being offered on the post is more than what is offered bi-monthly for all groups. The range on the post is between Sh10,000 to Sh160,000 while the range for the actual Inua Jamii fund is between Sh4,000 to Sh5,400 across the four groups. The post also mentions a security fee that is not there in the legitimate Inua Jamii program.

Verdict

Claims that First Lady Rachel Ruto is offering Inua Jamii Easy loans are FALSE.

This fact check was published by Africa Uncensored with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck and African Fact-Checking Alliance.