Kitgum Municipal officials say that they have replaced 294 names of unknown persons whose names appeared on the list of beneficiaries of government’s COVID-19 emergency relief cash. The government planned to give out 100,000 Shillings as support to selected vulnerable persons during the pandemic.
Two weeks ago, the government deferred 691 names of beneficiaries from Kitgum Municipality citing a mismatch in details provided on their contacts and National Identity Numbers-NINs. The beneficiaries were part of the 3,675 vulnerable people registered for government support, within the three divisions of Pager, Central, and Pandwong in Kitgum Municipality.
Kitgum Town Clerk Emmanuel Banya told Uganda Radio Network in an interview that out of 691 names deferred, only 320 people affected turned up at the respective divisions to rectify their details. He says that the municipal officials couldn’t account for the 294 names of people on the list.
Banya says the names were very unfamiliar and wondered how they entered into their system, but they were later replaced with beneficiaries from the Municipality who were on the waiting list.
He notes that the government has since paid a total of 3,522 vulnerable people within the Municipality and only 153 are yet to receive their money.
Frank Mugabi, the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development spokesperson dismissed reports that the names could have been generated as a result of fault on the government computer system. Mugabi says the fact that the names were verified and later replaced by Kitgum Municipal officials upon realizing they were unfamiliar ensured no flaws were registered in payment.
He notes that the Gender Ministry is currently conducting a mop-up of the exercise especially in areas that had payment problems before the conclusion of the payment. Mugabi says the government had finished paying 468,000 vulnerable Ugandans.
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