Ugandans are now receiving Covid-19 relief payments from the government, but Betty Amongi, the Minister of Gender, said no single individual in Kampala will receive money as their data has yet to be validated.
As Ugandans begin to receive covid-19 relief payments from the government, Hon Betty Amongi the gender minister has said no single individual in Kampala will receive a message for the money because their data is still yet to be validated.
While appearing on NBS TV’s morning breeze programme on Thursday, Amongi rubbished claims that the disbursement of the funds has been extended for a further week.
She said the government has agreed to begin sending money to all those whose information was cleared and verified.
“As of today, nobody in Kampala is going to get money because data has not been validated. For us to pay we require validated data. We can not pay using any data that hasn’t been signed off by the town clerk. By yesterday, it was only Entebbe, Kira and Gulu Municipalities that had been able to partially finish the process,” Amongi said.
“We agreed to relax the date of data verification from July 10th not the payment. From today, whatever data has been verified, money will be dispatched. We want a thorough process with accountability. I want to assure Ugandans that payment begins today and the Prime Minister will launch this process today at 10: 00 am,” she added.
She explained that the distribution of money is not targeting every single vulnerable person in the country but only those who have been terribly affected by the pandemic.
She said they are looking at groups that survive on daily income.
“This vulnerability we are looking at for the UGX100,000 are those who depended on daily income to survive and have been affected by the 42 day lockdown. We are working out a comprehensive plan for those who would have lost jobs or who would want to change their line of business. This will be discussed by Cabinet. There are various categories we are going to look at.”
“If you understand the concept, you’ll understand that this process is not for all vulnerable people otherwise we would have to send money to all the poor people based on the UBOS statistics. The coordination of this program is well structured even though you try to paint a picture that the process is complex,” Among explained.
Meanwhile, two million vulnerable households in Uganda are expected to receive the cash.
Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja last week said the government will be looking at people whose jobs have been terribly hit including bartenders and street vendors, boda boda riders, artists including those who do hand to mouth jobs.
