700 more pensioners listed for pay

Oct 15, 2009

The Government has started paying pensioners directly through their bank accounts.

By Mary Karugaba

The Government has started paying pensioners directly through their bank accounts.

The move is aimed at weeding out ‘ghost’ pensioners, which were rampant when payment was done through cheques.

According to the list, released by the Ministry of Public Service, the money for 736 pensioners (full list inside) has already been credited to their accounts. The beneficiaries include the relatives of 35 deceased pensioners.

Finance deputy treasurer Keith Muhakanizi told New Vision yesterday that from this month the Government will pay all verified pensioners directly through their bank accounts.

This, he said, was aimed at eliminating third parties and accumulating more pension arrears.

“We have decided to pay pension directly to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts and this will be done by the Ministry of Finance and not Public Service. Their work will only be to verify those entitled to pension,” said Muhakanizi.

“So from October on, people will no longer have to move to the public service ministry to get their money. It will find them in their respective areas.”

The finance ministry told Parliament recently that it withheld sh130b in pension arrears, demanding accountability from the public service ministry for sh210b it received earlier.

Permanent secretary Chris Kassami told MPs that despite efforts to clear pension arrears, the public service ministry continued to demand billions of shillings more.

As a result, his ministry had asked the Auditor General to carry out a forensic audit of previous funds to ensure that there were no illegal payments or ‘ghost’ pensioners.

Muhakanizi yesterday emphasised that for the arrears, the Auditor General will have to complete his audit before these can be paid out to the beneficiaries.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});