Recent research on poverty in Uganda suggested that the penury index has reduced from 31% in 2006 to about 20%.
However, according to the World Bank, the biggest number below the poverty line are the elderly. This is the reason why the Ugandan government set up the Social Assistance Grants Empowerment programme in 2010 to help ease the suffering of the poor elderly.
The programme initially started with 14 pilot districts but later the number grew to 47 - thanks to the 57 Million Euros offered by development partners.
However, the programme which was expected to roll-out countrywide is yet to kick off due to budgetary constraints.
According to Pius Ongom Okello, the programme’s Operations Adviser, the rollout for some districts was left out of the budget for 2017/2018.
Grace Mbaziira, an 89-year-old is a resident of Kiyoola village in Mubende district - one of the districts that were not considered.
He laments the punishing poverty he has to endure in his twilight years.
Just like Mbaziira, Margaret Nantongo of Madudu village is also in dire need of a hand out of poverty.
She is taking care of a few grandchildren who she says she can no longer toil for without external support.
However, their counterparts in Kiboga district receive the Senior Citizens Grant but for six months now, the money has not been coming.
NTV has learnt that, some of the elderly beneficiaries were paid arrears of only 50,000/= and this was attributed to the forthcoming visit of the president to the district on Sunday.
Government committed 11.75 billion shillings annually to the rollout programme but even halfway through the budget year, the Ministry of Labour, Gender and Social Development, which supervises the project, has only received a quarter of the funds.
Of the anticipated 1.3 million elderly persons in the country, only about 300 thousand receive a handout.
In March 2017, donors stayed the approval of the second phase of funding for the elderly following the persistent failure by government to fulfill it’s commitment.
Party to the letter of which NTV obtained a copy reads;
“ As a result we propose to delay the movement of the programme into full implementation phase in order to give us time to reappraise the agreement that we have with the government of Uganda.”
This March 21st letter was signed by the head of Britains Department For International Development, Jennie Barugh and the Irish Ambassador Donal Cronin.
Many say the misappropriation of funds was the cause of the suspension of donor support but the Ministry of Gender denies the allegations.
There are now proposals to increase the eligibility age for the SAGE programme from the constitutional 60 years in order to get a smaller number that would be easier to manage when the programme rolls out countrywide
Our efforts to find the ministry of finance officials to clarify on the budgetary issues in the SAGE programme have proved fruitless.