Africa-Press – Lesotho. Following the reports of alleged misrepresentation and ‘ghost’ recipients of the old age pension scheme, the Finance Minister Hon. Thabo Sophonea said the
auditors have begun gathering data of the active pensioners and those that have passed on. This exercise he said will counter the alleged fraud. Sophonea said such report is
receiving attention at the Pensions Department. This he said the Ministry is doing in concert with the Ministry of Home Affairs which houses the information on population registry.
The Minister said this on Thursday while responding to the questions in the National Assembly posed by Hon. ‘Maletsema Lenkoane Letsoepa, the Proportional
Representative (PR) member of the Democratic Congress (DC). Letsoepa asked the Minister about the alleged fraud at the old age pension scheme in which the names of pensioners who are certified dead still appear in the list of
the active recipients of the pension. She further enquired on how soon will the pension register be “cleaned up as the money is being looted” by the Ministry staff and the disciplinary measures
engaged to arrest such practice against the perpetrators. Lesotho introduced the old age pension in 2004 and the citizens who are 70 years and above are entitled to receive it on monthly
basis. The Ministry of Finance said there are about 3 045 certified dead pensioners who had been on the monthly roll. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), “Lesotho’s share of elderly people is
larger than in other sub-Saharan African countries. This can mainly be attributed to outmigration of young people and decreased longevity due to HIV/AIDS.
The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is 23.4 per cent and has significantly reshaped the country’s demographics. Life expectancy is only 48 years and an estimated 360,000 children have lost either one or both parents to the HIV
epidemic. Often, older Basotho become the primary caretakers of their grandchildren. In rural areas, 8 per cent of households are skip-generation households.
” The Minister said “deep” investigations are needed to identify the alleged perpetrators to be brought
before the courts for the law to take its course. He said the pension staff delay to report once they have received the reports of the deceased pensioners and delay to delist them from the roll.
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