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| Principal Secretary of the State Department for Social Protection and Senior Citizens Affairs, Mr. Joseph Motari with an elderly woman. |
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has unearthed an affluent level of mismanagement in the Older Persons Cash Transfer (OPCT) program run by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.
Designed to provide financial aid to impoverished elderly citizens, the program has been plagued by corruption, with funds allocated to ineligible individuals, including deceased persons and pensioners prioritized over those in genuine need.
On September 24, 2024, EACC presented its compliance monitoring report to the Principal Secretary of the State Department for Social Protection and Senior Citizens Affairs, Mr. Joseph Motari.
The study, which began on April 5 and ran up to May 22, 2024, aimed to pinpoint weaknesses within the OPCT program and recommend system improvements.
The assessment reviewed the policy, legal, and institutional frameworks, procedures, and practices related to the OPCT program. Officers from EACC also conducted interviews, analyzed relevant documents, and visited beneficiaries in selected counties.
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EACC Commissioner Alfred Mshimba |
In a statement on Wednesday, September 25, the EACC noted that "Among the key findings are cases where cash transfers were made to dead persons, and cases where old persons on pension were preferred over more deserving cases of needy and poor beneficiaries without any source of income."
The report highlighted that the Department did not establish mechanisms to identify pensioners among beneficiaries, potentially denying priority to more deserving elderly individuals.
“The assessment established that the Department failed to establish mechanisms for identifying pensioners among existing and eligible OPCT Programme beneficiaries, which could deny more deserving older persons priority as beneficiaries,” the EACC reported.
“It was also noted that there were significant delays in exiting deceased beneficiaries from the programme. In some instances, withdrawals were made from the accounts of deceased beneficiaries nearly three years after death.”
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PS Joseph Motari speaking at a past event |
PS Motari acknowledged the findings, saying that some of the issues had already appeared in the Department's external auditor's report and were being addressed.
He said that he was going to make the report a working tool and called upon his staff to internalize its recommendations.
EACC Commissioner Alfred Mshimba hailed the Department for cooperation, saying that effective collaboration with EACC is a sure testimony that institutions can effectively work in unison to block corruption.
The program targets a select group of poor elderly citizens above the age of 70 who do not have any regular income.
Beneficiaries receive a bi-monthly cash transfer to cushion them from poverty.
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