86,000 to benefit from East social cash transfer
By ANNIE ZULU
THE number of beneficiaries under the Social Cash Transfer Scheme in Eastern Province is expected to rise from 67, 323 in 2017 to 86, 896 in 2018, Minister of Community Development and Social Welfare Emerine Kabanshi has disclosed.
Ms Kabanshi said this was in line with Government’s quest to reduce the country’s poverty levels, which currently stand at 54.4 per cent.
The Minister was speaking in Eastern Province.
“In 2017, Government spent K28.9 million on the social cash transfer scheme in Eastern Province and the amount will increase this year, because we will have more beneficiaries,” Ms Kabanshi said.
She revealed that the ministry was also working at producing a single register of beneficiaries for all programmes under the ministry to ensure that one person does not benefit from more than one programme.
“There is a situation where some beneficiaries are benefiting from both the social cash transfer scheme and the Food Security Pack,” she said.
She however, said the Food Security Pack had worked so well that Government had decided to increase the number of beneficiaries from 350 to 750 beneficiaries in each district this year.
And Ms Kabanshi has assured beneficiaries of the Social Cash Transfer Scheme that payments for November and December 2017, which had delayed were being processed in Lusaka and would be paid out soon.
Meanwhile, the minister said recovery of loans under the Village Bank programme have been successful with some districts in Eastern Province recording between 80 and 100 percent recoveries. She said women had so far proved to be reliable, such that there was no need to prosecute those that may be struggling to pay back.