Lists Of The Vulnerable Will Be Verified before The Money Is Sent. – Government

The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) has vowed to delete all the names of persons who do not qualify for the COVID-19 relief fund and replace them with qualifying persons.

This was revealed by the minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Betty Amongi, on Saturday as she delivered an update on preparations on the transfer of the COVID-19 relief fund to vulnerable persons in urban areas.

However much the ministry directed that the list of beneficiaries be displayed in communities for purposes of collecting feedback that aids in the update of the lists, the minister noted that it has already attracted complaints from the public.

“We have already noticed that in some areas residents are complaining about the persons on the list, but we want to remind them that the display exercise is meant to serve that exact purpose; that the lists have input of the local communities,” Amongi noted.

Amongi encouraged the public to send feedback and make contributions through their leaders including designated Ministers, Town Clerks, RDCs and Members of Parliament and action will be taken to rectify the issue.

“Names that are deleted will be replaced with other qualifying persons from the existing administrative lists in custody of the Town Clerk. Local Council members are working closely with the designated technical officers to clean up the lists,” said Amongi.

Despite the fact that there is an ongoing registration of vulnerable persons in communities, the minister revealed that details of some of the beneficiaries like Boda Boda riders, taxi drivers/conductors, street vendors among others are held by KCCA, Cities and Municipalities authorities through their systems.

However, to ensure that the list of beneficiaries are updated and validated, the Town Clerks are supposed to ensure that the lists are displayed in the communities for purposes of collecting feedback that aids in the update of the lists.

According to Amongi, the exercise kicked off successfully with the mobilisation of stakeholders who are playing different roles in the execution of the assignment.

The registration exercise will extend up to Tuesday, July 6, which the ministry hopes that registration across the Kampala Metropolitan Area will have reached completion and disbursement expected to start on Wednesday to the legible persons.

In the briefing, the minister resounded that not all vulnerable persons are to be targeted at this particular point. “The National COVID-19 Taskforce on cash transfers provided a ceiling on numbers of persons to be reached per city or Municipality and KCCA ,” she noted.

These numbers are guided by the available funding and cannot for all vulnerable persons even when they fall in the listed categories.

Also, persons with disabilities, older persons and women are part of the target persons as long as they fall in the categories issued.

The MGLSD is leading daily meetings with stakeholders to ensure that all planned activities are carried out seamlessly. A line of tools have been developed and issued out to KCCA, Cities and Municipality authorities to facilitate their mandates including guidelines on data compilation, verification and payment.