Folks,
We’ve decided to postpone the launch of our basic income initiative in Kenya until after the new election.
Earlier this month Kenya’s Supreme Court voted to nullify the August 8th presidential election results. Presidential candidate Ralia Odinga challenged sitting president Uhuru Kenyatta’s 54% win and appealed to the Supreme Court that the election had not been conducted in accordance with Kenya’s constitution. Following the Supreme Court’s decision, a re-do of the election will be held on October 26th.
This verdict marks a key moment in Kenya’s history, and we want to be respectful of the democratic process by avoiding any actions that could be interpreted as trying to sway the outcome. In particular, we don’t want to enroll new recipients during the intense period of campaigning that will now follow.
Your efforts to get UBI across the finish line have been significant — we raised an additional $2.2M last month, bringing us to $27.2M for the initiative. That said, we’re still short of our $30 million goal and given the later kick-off date, we’re keeping the option to give to UBI open leading up to the election.
Onward,
The GiveDirectly Team