Africa-Press – Uganda. OLDER PERSONS |The number of older persons receiving a monthly stipend from the Government has now reached 304,555 after the national roll-out.The gender ministry permanent secretary, Aggrey Kibenge, however, said about 41,000 older persons are yet to start receiving the money.Kibenge made the remarks during the handover ceremony of over 135 new motorcycles for district community development officers (CDOs).The motorcycles, which cost sh981.6m, are meant to support the implementation of the Social Assistance Grant for Empowerment (SAGE) programme.The motorcycles were on Tuesday handed over to the chief administrative officers (CAOs) during a function held at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds in Kampala.SAGE initiativeSAGE is one of the critical social protection programmes being implemented by the Government, where a monthly allowance of sh25,000 is given to older persons to support their welfare.”The rollout targeted to reach 362,561 older persons. Of this, 304,555 older persons successfully received their payment, while the 41,000 missed,” he said.Initially, the older persons aged 65 and above were eligible for the programme, except in Karamoja, where the age was 60.Last year, the age for eligibility was raised to 80 and above. But those below the age of 80 and were already benefitting from the programme were retained. Kibenge said those who missed out had issues to do with national identity cards and sicknesses, among others. He said the ministry has already written to the districts to constitute teams that will register all older persons who missed out. Stephen Kasaija, the head of the Social Protection Programme Management Unit at the ministry, revealed that the motorcycles were procured with support from development partners.Kasaija said CDOs play a key role in the planning and co-ordination of all the SAGE activities in the districts. “They lead in the implementation of all of our protocols, including verification, registration, and identification of pay points. Most importantly, they are in charge of managing complaints and grievances,” he said.”The motorcycles will support the day-to-day running of the programme activities,” he added. Flagging off the motorcycles, the state minister for the disabled and elderly affairs, Sarah Kanyike, disclosed that the Government was committed to reducing the eligibility age of the beneficiaries from 80 years.Betty Kasiko, who represented the Foreign Commonwealth and Development office, lauded the Government for having been able to roll out the programme despite the challenges of COVID-19.”We want to commend the ministry for doing everything possible to ensure that the elderly are able to get these payments at such a time when most of the households are constrained,” she said.
