The Policy Monitoring and Research Centre (PMRC) has urged government to have intensive data cleaning to curb the duplication of National Registration Cards in order to reduce on ghost Social Cash Transfer beneficiaries.
PMRC Executive Director Bernadette Zulu told Money FM News that there was also need for the digitization of the selection process in order to deal with unscrupulous individuals who would want to be on the scheme while employed like civil servants.
“PMRC urges Government to consider utilizing mobile phone technology which has various financial platforms such as mobile money. Mobile phone penetration has increased over the years and therefore presents an opportunity for the administration of the Social Cash Transfer Programme that will cut on some of the administration costs as well as eliminate the duplication of beneficiaries,” Mrs. Zulu said.
Mrs. Zulu further urged government to improve collaboration with the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities (ZAPD) to develop a more rigorous framework for identification, verification and certification of the disabled beneficiaries so that the correct and deserving beneficiaries benefit from the programme.
She also called for increased funding for the Agency so as to increase capacity of officers responsible for identification, verification and certification of eligible beneficiaries.
“There is need for a memorandum of understanding to be signed with terms of reference outlining the role of the Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities.”
“The Ministry of Community Development and Social Services is urged to ensure that synergies and partnerships are formed with Ministries that have presence in all districts to enable ZAPD to utilize their offices for the administration of Social Cash Transfer programme,” she added.
The Auditor General’s office carried out an audit between 2014 and 2017 with an objective of assessing the effectiveness of the Social Cash Transfer programme towards the reduction of extreme poverty among beneficiary households.
The audit revealed that the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services paid social cash transfers totaling over 2 million Kwacha to Two thousand, two hundred and Eight Four ineligible beneficiaries for periods ranging from 2 to 140 months and during the period under review, ineligible beneficiaries were put on the scheme due to a number of reasons which included; wrong targeting by enumerators, illiteracy and lack of timely verification processes.