The ministry for gender, labor and Social Development is on Friday signing a memorandum of understanding with three districts in which it intends to implement a pilot program of paying poverty stricken elderly persons.

Sulaiman Madada

The districts include Kiboga, Kyenjojo and Kaberamaido, although the program will roll out to other more eleven districts including Zombo, Amudat, Nakapiripirit, Katakwi, Kole, Nebbi, Moroto, Napak, Apac, Kyankwanzi and Kyegegwa.

Addressing a press conference at media center, elderly and disability state minister Sulaiman Madada said that the reason for starting with these districts is because a recent study carried out indicated that these have got the top most elderly people who are in abject poverty.

Madada said that government is going to spend 40m pounds (about100 billion shillings) on this Vulnerable Families Support Grant which targets elderly persons, PWDs, orphans among others. Madada says each elderly person in the selected districts will get 22,000 shillings per month through MTN’s mobile money.

He said that the ministry is also going to spend 900 million shillings to build 134 permanent homes for elderly people in various districts after already spending 400 million shillings on building 60 such homes.