Internal Security Organization (ISO) is investigating 80,000 phone users whose particulars are either missing or don’t match with their National Identification Number (NIN) received Covid-19 relief funds.
This development comes a day after government admitted that shs 600 million was lost after Post Bank made double payments to 6000 beneficiaries.
All the phone numbers which received the bank message twice belong to Airtel Uganda.
Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja proposed that government should send needy Ugandans affected by 42 days of lockdown, shs 100,000 to buy food. She insisted that this method of sending money would curb corruption.
A source in ISO who asked not be named told this website that a probe has been launched to establish how money was released to more 80,000 beneficiaries whose names don’t either match with the NIN, phone numbers aren’t registered in their names or one name is incorrect.
“We are trying to verify this. In some instances, you find that someone used a wrong NIN. Like a man who was paid submitted a national ID of a woman,” said a source, adding that, “others who received money had one name right while another one wrong as per the NIN.”
Without delving much into details, a source said ISO had kicked off investigations to ascertain how this “mishap” could happen undetected.
Speaking to Gender Ministry which has been in charge of collection, validation and submission of data to Post Bank for payment, the spokesperson Frank Mugabi said it is not true that people with incorrect NIN were paid.
He however, acknowledged that 85957 entries were rejected by the system and sent back to Town Clerks for verification.
“These are reasons why an entry can be rejected by the system. 1- when the telephone number is not registered under the National ID. 2- When phone number submitted is not registered at all. 3- If the phone number is not registered for Mobile Money,” Mugabi said.
He added that, “we detect it here at the Ministry before we submit to Post Bank for payment.”
“Therefore, there is nothing like they are investigating,” he said.
Mugabi said that what is true is that 6000 people received a double payment and it was an error by Post Bank.
In a statement issued by the Permanent Secretary of Gender Ministry, Aggrey Kibenge, he blamed the bank for the error.
“The Ministry has double-checked its records with Post Bank (U) Ltd and established that no such error is attributable to submissions we have made to the Bank,” Kibenge said.
“Once beneficiary data is conveyed online by the Ministry to Post Bank (U) Ltd, the responsibility of ensuring that each of the beneficiaries receives the authorized amount (of UGX. 102,425=) rests entirely with the Bank,” he added.
Kibenge said the Ministry has accordingly obtained assurance from Post Bank (U) Ltd that the errors that were experienced at the stage of remitting funds to the beneficiaries, only affected some of the Airtel subscribers, and will be resolved without any loss of public funds or to the detriment of the unpaid beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, the Ministry says that the process of paying the beneficiaries has reached 83% and a total of 419862 have received the funds. Government is targeting 501107 vulnerable people.