Wrong people receive social assistance as Ministry loses records - Tabuya

There have been cases where the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection has lost the manual records of the people who are supposed to be receiving assistance and the money has been going to someone else, however, they are digitising their records.

According to Minister Lynda Tabuya this has been a nightmare as trying to bring in missing records to digitise has taken a long time.

While responding to a question by Opposition MP Premila Kumar on the measures in place to ensure accountability in the Government’s management and distribution of social pensions, Tabuya says if they are digitising their records, they are making it mainstream so that they can ensure those who are not supposed to be on the programme will not be part of it.

The Minister has also highlighted that rapid population growth combined with a lack of adequate social security will likely increase poverty amongst older persons and the latest statistics released by UNSCAP indicated that 10 percent of our total population is under the older persons category and it also forecasts an increase to 15 percent by 2050.

Kumar says the Minister for Finance announced in the last budget that anyone turning 70 will be receiving $150 and some people have been complaining they have not been receiving that money.

She says she had simply asked those members to go to the Ministry and sort it out.

Kumar asks what specific measures are in place to track and resolve complaints from pensioners about underpayment and whether there is a dedicated system in place to handle these grievances and track them.

While responding to the question, Tabuya says they will always receive complaints and they want anyone who is not receiving them to file a complaint with the Ministry through their offices and phone numbers that they have available.

She says Kumar is saying that they do not pick up the phone but she told her to file the complaint directly with her.

While responding to a question by Opposition MP Rinesh Sharma on people not receiving the full $125 as the bank is holding off $5 and how the Minister will ensure that people receive the full amount, Tabuya says they must file a formal complaint and provide the evidence.

She says if the banks are doing that, then they need to deal with the banks.