East African Gazette
Kampala
Over 20b budget cuts to severely affect elderly persons meant to benefit from the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) program Betty Amongi, the minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development has revealed.
“Globally, social protection is recognized as a vital mechanism to shield vulnerable populations from various shocks and life risks. It is instrumental in preventing individuals from slipping deeper into poverty and vulnerability,” Amongi noted.
“Unfortunately, thousands of senior citizens entitled to SAGE program country wide are likely to miss out on sage grants due to Shs 21 bn budget cuts for the financial year 2024/2025,” Amongi warned.
Amongi made these remarks while presiding over a media sensitization workshop on social protection which was held at the Imperial Royale Hotel on Thursday.
With these budget cuts, Uganda may not achieve the aspirations outlined in the National Development Plan 111 which include sustainable industrialization, inclusive growth, employment and wealth creation, advising that, there must be deliberate investment in social protection across the lifecycle.
Amongi observed that, “Sage funds act as a monthly salary for the elderly implying that several of them will miss it which will affect their right to medication, shelter, clothing caring for their grandchildren and orphans hence lead to their demise.”
According to Uganda National Household Survey of 2019/2020, the number of individuals living below the poverty line has increased from 8 M to 8.3 m implying that one in five Ugandans is struggling to meet their basic needs that include a meal per day.
Considering the above factors, the minister requests the Ministry of Finance planning and Economic Development (MFPED) to consider a supplementary budget to fill the gap.
According to the Gender Ministerial policy statement of financial year 2024/2025, presented to the Parliamentary Budget Committee to a tune of shs 121.2 bn unfortunately, the legislators slashed the budget off 20.8bn which is likely to affect service provision.
Patrick Katabazi the Coordinator Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection wondered why Uganda’s budget has increased from 52 to 72 trillion and yet legislators failed to make a correction of the sage budget.
“I wonder how legislators failed to make a correction of sh 100 bn during the process of making corrections in the National budget (Core gender) because how the budget increased from 52 trillion to 72 trillion,” Katabazi wonders.
This might be a deliberate effort to destabilize the project yet all of us are potentially old age.
Katabazi points out Apathy (lack of interest) among key decision makers as one of the biggest challenges the Sage project faces. Noting that majority of the decision makers and implementers fail to under that sh 25,000 may seem to be little but it has improved elderly livelihoods.
“Despite the positive impacts of these programs, there remains a significant gap in public understanding and awareness of social protection.
This is where your role as the media professional becomes crucial. This workshop aims at equipping the media with a comprehensive understanding of social protection initiatives for accurate and effective communication to the public,” Katabazi mentioned.
Stephen Kasaija the Head of SAGE project at the Gender Ministry noted that, “The approved Shs 100 bn approved in the National budget 2024/2025 can only serve for not less than nine months meaning that over 100,000 senior citizens are expected to miss out on their monthly sh 25,000.”
“From the 121.2 bn sh provided in the financial year 2024/2025, but Finance Ministry only approved sh 100 bn about 20 percent required financing to benefit the 302,240 beneficiaries countrywide,”
Kasaija observed that, “The effect of the budget cuts is projected for twelve months starting from end of July 2024 up to July 2025 and is likely to affect 101,000 sage beneficiaries’ country wide.”
The Senior Citizens Grant is Uganda’s largest cash transfer programme that started in 2010 targeting older persons aged 80 years and above.
Currently, a total of 302, 240 older persons are enlisted to benefit from the grant with a monthly grant of 25,000 Shillings for each.
Much as the inflation rate eroded, the initial costs have not changed. In their report on the National Budget Framework Paper, the Budget Committee of Parliament recommended increasing the value to 30,000 Shillings.
Also, in the current financial year, a total of 962 Persons with Disabilities groups benefited from their Special Grant which reached out to 7,377 individuals out of which 5,752 were males and 4,265 females across 66 Local Governments in the country.
While the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development requires five billion Shillings for their withdrawal, rehabilitation and resettlement, no allocation was made for the purpose
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