Elderly urge government to check Pension thefts

 

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Government Chief Whip Justine Lumumba (R) and Buyende Woman MP Veronica Kadogo (C) hand over an envelope to a priest in Buyende District during consultations recently. PHOTO BY OPIO SAM CALEB 

 

By SOLOMON ARINAITWE

KAMPALA

Elderly persons under their umbrella body, the Uganda Reach the Aged Association, yesterday urged the government to institute strong institutional measures to curb corruption in the Pensions sector. The group also called for the decentralisation of access to pension funds, to reduce the costs incurred by beneficiaries in the process of chasing payments.

Mr David Obot, the chairman of the association, told a breakfast meeting of old persons in Kampala yesterday that corruption in the pension sector had left them without access to basic necessities like food, accommodation and medical care.

“The pensions have been mismanaged by a few individuals and people have to travel from very far and get nothing, while one pensioner even died on the road. Government needs to put in measures to curb corruption,” Mr Obot said.

Mr Obot also urged the government to equip health centres with drugs, equip the youth with information in order to bridge the “generation –gap” between them and the aged, and also to encourage families not to abandon the elderly persons.

Case in point
He cited the case that this newspaper broke last week of Ms Salume Angwec, the mother of Uganda’s first gold medallist John Akii-Bua, who lives in a dilapidated structure in Corner Abako village, Ojul Parish Alebtong District.

State Minister for the Elderly and Disabled Suleiman Madada, acknowledged the corruption that has plagued the pensions sector, but countered that measures are being implemented to eliminate it. “Government is aware of the challenges faced by pensioners such as delays in accessing their pensions and high costs of transport to reach pay points, and will continue advocating for decentralisation of the processing and disbursement of retirement benefits,” Mr Madada read from a speech he delivered on behalf of the Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development, Mr John Nasasira.

sarinaitwe@ug.nationmedia.com