Chieftainess Kanyembo of the Lunda people of Luapula in Nchelenge District has appealed to Minister of Community Development, Mother and Child Health to quickly go and review the list of the current beneficiaries of the social cash transfer programme in her chiefdom because the current list consists of well to do people who should have not been put on the list.
The Chieftainess made the appeal during a focused group discussion with her village headwomen and men on the effects of early marriages when a team of an inter-ministerial Task Force on ending early marriages in chiefdoms of Zambia visited her chiefdom.
She said the social cash transfer was well intended because it was meant to assist the economically vulnerable families headed by widows, orphans and the disabled but beneficiaries in her chiefdom were not falling in the prescribed categories which has created a sense of callousness among her subjects in the way they were viewing the programme.
She said it was unfair to see economically able families lining up for the social cash transfer money when the real vulnerable were left in the cold.
She said the minister should come and see for herself so that she could appreciate the situation obtaining on the ground.
She said she was further disturbed when she was told that the list cannot be changed until after three years to introduce new beneficiaries.
The Chieftainess insisted that the list of the beneficiaries should be reviewed without delay so that the real economically vulnerable, widowed, orphaned and poor whom the programme was intended to help could start getting the help because waiting for three years to correct the situation will not be helpful to the deserving families in her chiefdom.
All her subjects at the meeting chorused in unison validating the observation and recommendation from their leader as most of them seemed to have been genuinely left out.
And Nchelenge District Community Development, Mother and Child Health Officer Geoginah Mwamba N’gandu said she had no power to change the list as it can only be reviewed after three years to have new names introduced on it.
She added that the fund had its limitations and could not accommodate everyone in the chiefdom.
Sensible observation and a very common occurrence in Zambia. The officers meant to implement these projects are the ones in the forefront abusing the system with their relatives! As usual nothing will be done. @Geoginah Mwamba N’gandu…Ndeloleshafye!