Government is working on wrong information submitted by the elderly in order to receive Social Assistance Grant for the Elderly- SAGE, a minister has revealed.
SAGE is a government programme under which Ugandans aged 80 years and above receive Shs25,000 monthly.
According to the State Minister of Finance in charge of planning, David Bahati, this is the one of the challenges affecting the beneficiaries and service delivery.
He was last weekend responding to questions raised by a section of old persons from Ndorwa West during a consultative meeting with Katuna Town Council – National Resistance Movement leaders in Kabale.
Loidah Kyoheirwe, 87, and Pellepetwa Kyomuhendo, 94, asked the minister the procedure government uses to choose the beneficiaries, saying the officials who registered beneficiaries did not consider them.
In response, Bahati said that the government is currently facing a problem where old persons submitted wrong bio-data while registering themselves for the programme.
He cited an example of a 94-year-old woman from Butanda who missed the grant because she had registered as a 56-year-old.
This meant that she could not benefit from the programme.
“I appeal to educated youth to always take their older parents for registration and ensure that they give right information in order to avoid such challenges of having Kabale’s elderly not benefiting under the program,” he said.
The minister also implored farmers and business community to use local markets to sell their products until government solves the border issue with the Rwanda.
“The issue of the border is being handled by the President who is using very smart ways which do not involve wars to solve impasse between the two sister countries,” he said.
He also asked people to be patient saying that the border is anticipated to be opened not exceeding three months from today.
On February 27, Rwanda closed its Katuna and Nyirama Hills borders in Kabale and Ntungamo districts respectively.
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