The Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection has recommended that Government considers lowering the eligibility age for the Senior Assistance Grant for Empowerment (SAGE) to around 70-years.

The current SAGE eligibility age of 80 years old is deemed excessively high by the forum.

They contend that, in their assessment of the application of SAGE across the nation, they have not encountered many senior people 80 years of age or beyond.

They argue that this leaves out a large number of elderly people between the age 60 and 80 in various communities.

Lowering the age would increase more beneficiaries and coverage, according to Kumi Municipality MP Silas Aogon, who was speaking to journalists at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala today, October 30, 2023. Aogon represents Eastern Uganda on the forum.

Presently, 350,000 senior citizens nationwide are receiving benefits from the program, and each receives sh25,000/= a month.

The call comes ahead of the National Social Protection Dialogue scheduled to take place tomorrow at Hotel Africana, October 31, 2023.

Aogon observed that many elderly people pass away before they reach the eligibility age for the pay due to a variety of factors, including the high rates of poverty and lack of a robust social safety system in the nation.

“It is very hard to get those people of 80-years even in our areas we come from. They are very few and yet there are many people who deserve this support, we need to lower this age to as low as 60 years,” he added.

He noted that even data shows life expectancy at age 60 years of Uganda increased from 14.83 years in 1975 to 16.34 years in 2020 growing at an average annual rate of 1.17%.

Life expectancy is the median age at death for a particular population group.

Aogon pointed out that although the forum has been advocating for the age to be lowered, nothing has been done about it as of yet.

He noted that during their visit in Gulu, Aogon said they found out that many recipients’ residences are sometimes far from the pay stations, requiring them to pay additional expenses for transport, and that the pay procedure is slow.

“We also found that some older persons are permanently in the house because they are either disabled or sick and cannot move. When they try to entrust somebody like a relative or neighbour to pick the money for them, these people just take off with the money,” he noted.

He mentioned that some older people's fingerprints were worn out, which a requirement is set by the National Identification Registration Authority (NIRA) in order to obtain a national ID, which makes it impossible for them to get a national ID, while others had wrong information on their national IDs portraying a wrong age.

Given the high cost of living, he claimed that even the sh25,000 is still a very small amount.

“We thank the government, because people are getting the money because initially it was partners shouldering most of the burden. But the government has come in and that is a plus but there is need to review what is given because the economy is too demanding,” he noted.

(L-R) Silas Aagon, Member of Parliament on Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection interacting with David Sserumaga, Public Affairs Assistant at Uganda Media Centre and Joshua Onyang, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager during a press conference at Uganda Media Centre on October 30, 2023. (Photo by Mary Kansiime)

Social protection

The MPs stated in their statement that while the government has made progress in broadening the reach and scope of social protection, both the government and development partners must intentionally concentrate on increasing social protection investments if the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are to be achieved.

They pointed out that social protection is essential and a successful tactic for battling poverty and vulnerability.

“The concept of social protection unlocks economic growth, for it guarantees income security, aids access to health care services, education, good nutrition and other social services that promote inclusive development and social-economic transformation,” Aogon noted.

He emphasized that it serves as a tool for building resilience to shocks in life.

He said, nevertheless, that in spite of numerous initiatives, like as the National Social Protection Policy of 2015, the execution is inadequate.

He stated that the goal of the conversation is to increase public awareness of the value of social protection in tackling issues of vulnerability, inequality, and poverty.

“We even see MPs becoming vulnerable if they are not re-elected. Many people lack health insurance and are not enrolled in any savings plans. We witnessed what transpired during COVID-19 when you received calls from individuals who were working but had no even a coin. How do our people retire from work? What transpires when someone is injured at work? These are the issues that must be addressed,” he stated. 

Aogon noted that in Uganda about 8 million people or 20.3% of the total population lives below the poverty line, while 43% of the people though not poor, have a high likelihood of falling into absolute poverty in case of a shock such a chronic illness, disability, job loss, death of a breadwinner, or crop failure resulting from unpredictable weather changes.

“Coverage of social protection is still very low at only less than 4% while only 0.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is allocated for financial social protection. This is the lowest in the region compared to our neighbours such as Kenya 01%, Tanzania 1.7%, and Rwanda 1.8%,” he added.