THE National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) has disbursed Mk5 billion to 11 district Councils for the Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP) implementation for the first cycle (July-October) in the 2020/21 Financial year.

NLGFC Director of Infrastructure and Economic Development, Paul Chipeta says the program has about 126,500 beneficiaries and the disbursements will be done every four months due to the COVID19 pandemic distinct to the usual three months cycle.

“With the COVID19 pandemic, resources will be transferred to Councils every four months for the program and a vertical expansion will be implemented where SCTP beneficiary households will get extra MK5, 000 on top of the average MK 9,000 for a period of 3 months. This is just to help them afford basic needs during this pandemic,” said Chipeta.

In this financial year, average  transfers have been adjusted upwards to MK 9,000 from the MK6,500 which has been consistent for the past three years.

Social Protection Officer, Mateso Kazembe said the adjustment is supposed to happen every financial year but due to limited resources this was unattained in the last 3 years.

He added that as NLGFC they have also been conducting feedback sessions on case management with Councils as they noted some anomalies in the previous financial year on procedures that they have to follow when conducting

case management in SCTP like update of information, claims and complaints that arise through the implementation of the Programme.

Going forward, in addition to the SCTP in the 11 district Councils of Karonga, Rumphi, Nkhatabay, Nkhotakota, Kasungu, Ntchisi, Dowa, Lilongwe, Dedza, Blantyre and Chiradzulu, there are plans to also implement the Urban Cash Transfer in Lilongwe and Blantyre.