LINDA SOKOTEMBO writes
VULNERABLE villagers in Katete district have not received their Social Cash Transfer (SCT), entitlement since December last year and situation is reported to be getting out of hand.
Headman Kalinde, (Adrian Banda) described the situation as worrying in view of high poverty levels in rural areas.
He said people’s lives had improved from the time they stared receiving SCT but now that they have not being receiving their allowances they had gone back to their old life.
Headman Kalinde said people in the villages were concerned because they had not received their SCT for the past five months and government was not coming forward to explain to them why they had stopped giving the money meant to empower them.
“I have been moving around in different villages here in Katete district, the vulnerable people that receive SCT are complaining they have not received their money since December 2018 to date,
“I want to find out if this programme has finished or if it’s still happening because a lot of people have benefited from the projects,” he said.
Headman Kalinde appealed to government to look into the matter with urgency and explain to the people exactly why the SCT had delayed.
He said the money had really helped them to improve their living stands as most of them had built proper homes and had livestock to help them earn an income.
Headman Kalinde said the delay in paying them would cause people to start struggling again and appealed to government to continue helping them.
But Katete district, Social Welfare Officer, Joyce Msoni said government was working on perfecting SCT system so that it would be improved and that Smart Zambia had come on board.
Ms Msoni was also cleaning the data system to ensure the beneficiaries had National Registration cards (NRC) and those who collected on behalf of the recipients had NRCs something that was not there previously.
She said they were doing everything possible to meet the deadline and once everything normalized, they would start giving SCT to the recipients.
