President Edgar Lungu has given Secretary to Cabinet Roland Msiska, seven days, to take decisive action towards curbing all malpractices in the administration of the Social Cash Transfer programme.
President Lungu has also directed Minister of Community Development, Emerine Kabanshi and her Finance counterpart, Margaret Mwanakatwe, to continue their engagements with donors.
ZANIS reports that President Lungu says the two ministers should assure donors of the remedial measures that government has been undertaking since the reported cases of misuse, earlier this year.
The President has further regretted that the comprehensive report on the administration of the social cash transfer funds ordered four months ago, was only availed to him on Friday last week.
Reports indicate over 43.8 million accounts as an outstanding balance owed to beneficiaries in Luapula, Northern, North-Western, Muchinga, Western and Copperbelt provinces respectively.
The Head of State has directed that all remaining actions and remedial measures be availed to him within one week.
President Lungu has also raised concern over the reported breach in the administering of the Social Cash Transfer, saying the perpetrators are disadvantaging the vulnerable in society who depend on this vital safety net.
And President Lungu says he is just as frustrated as the donors, funding the programme because the main aim of the project is to ensure that the plight of the vulnerable in society is met.
On September 5th, 2018, the Secretary to Cabinet led a government delegation to a meeting with donors, where measures being undertaken to address the problems encountered in the SCT programme were shared.