Prime
Govt to replace 34,000 Covid relief cash beneficiaries
L-R: Gender, Labour and Social Development minister Betty Amongi; Post Bank managing director Julius Kaketo and Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja.
What you need to know:
- Beneficiaries. Government identified 16 groups of beneficiaries, including drivers and conductors of buses and taxis, boda boda riders, slum dwellers, street vendors and bar attendants, among others.
Government has asked town clerks to replace the 34,000 Covid-19 cash beneficiaries whose details have failed numerous re-verification exercises, two days to the end of 42 lockdown.
A total of 78,000 out of 501,107 beneficiaries of Covid cash were rejected by the system the Gender ministry was using to pay money after their telephone numbers and National Identity Cards had queries.
The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Aggrey Kibenge, yesterday said 44,000 beneficiaries out of the rejected 78,000, who had earlier been rejected, have been cleared for payment.
“Forty Four have been revalidated and re-uploaded for payment by the town clerks,” Mr Kibenge said.
This means a total of 467,107 people have been cleared and paid by the ministry while a total of 34,000 beneficiaries are yet to be paid.
Government was supposed to remit Covid cash relief to 16 groups of people whose businesses were closed as a result of the lockdown. The beneficiaries would receive Shs100, 000 each.
However, the 42 days are slated to end tomorrow and some people might not be able to receive the cash. Mr Kibenge said they have asked the town clerks to replace all those whose data has not passed the verification exercise for the third time.
“Beneficiaries will be verified and cleared again. We advised the town clerks to do so by close of today (yesterday),” Mr Kibenge said.
He majority of the beneficiaries whose details were rejected are from Kampala, which had a bigger percentage of the poplation.
Out of to the 501,107 total beneficiaries, Kampala was allocated 157,474, followed by Nansana Municipality (34,482) and Kira Municipality (31,358).
While appearing before Parliament last week, the Prime Minister, Ms Robinah Nabbanja, disclosed that those rejected by the system had inconsistencies in the names appearing on their National IDs.
Ms Nabbanja also said the telephone numbers of some beneficiaries were registered under different names. “The failed numbers have been sent back to the cities and municipalities for correction before payment can be made. The town clerks have been trained and guided by the ministry on what to do,” she said.
Government, on July 6, started disbursing cash relief to people affected by the lockdown. When the lockdown ends, it is not clear whether President Museveni will lift it. The President is expected to address the nation on Saturday.
