Covid-19 relief cash system rejects 20,000 vulnerable poor on day one

At least 20,000 vulnerable Ugandans are set to miss out on the Shs 100,000 Covid-19 relief cash token from government after the system rejected their details.

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja on Thursday officiated the launch of the disbursement exercise for the relief cash token where Geoffrey Oloya, a boda boda rider from Gulu became the first beneficiary.

Featuring on NBS Television’s NBS Frontline on Thursday evening, Betty Amongi, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development said that the system rejected at least 20,000 on day one.

"The system rejected between 10,000 to 20,000 people, some of them had names that did not match with the identification registered with telecom companies, or where there was repetition and in cases where the person did not have a National Identification Number (NIN)," Amongi said.

Amongi said that government is using an advanced system with the help of banks and telecommunications companies which automatically reject any contacts whose data does not match with the NIN.

"We shall send your name back to the town clerk to process you for payment directly through cash after validating that you are genuine," she said.

Amongi said that by close of business on Thursday,  5,074 people had received their money through mobile money and over 150,000 contacts had been validated and verified to receive their money as the process continues.

"When I say verified data, this is data that has come through municipal cities and has been authenticated as correct in the category we are looking at. This data must have been verified by telecommunications companies as well," Amongi said.

Amongi said that government is now working on verifying data from Kampala among other urban areas.

She said Shs 53.7 billion has been earmarked for the whole process.

By the end of the process, government expects to target at least 500,000 households.