Only 80-year-olds to benefit from SAGE

Kampala. Effective July 1, only Ugandans aged 80 years and above will be included on the new list of Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE)e recipients.

This will affect elderly persons living in 77 districts.
It will not affect the 65-year-olds and above who are each currently receiving Shs25,000 monthly in 57 districts.
Mr Joseph Basoga, the SAGE senior programme officer, said the policy is in line with a resolution of Parliament that government extends SAGE services to all districts.

“We explored scenarios: from 50 years, 60 years. For us to cover the whole country, the government can only afford Shs142 billion – which would cater for persons of 80 years plus,” Mr Basoga said yesterday.
By press time, we were yet to get the projected number of 80-year-olds who will benefit.

According to the Uganda Retirements Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA) Annual Report 2017, as of March 2018, at least 190, 466 (21 per cent) of Ugandans 65 years plus were covered by SAGE.
The authority projected that by 2050, the 65-year plus age bracket will comprise five per cent of Uganda’s population then, that is, it will account for five million of the projected 101 million Ugandans.

What others say...

The chairperson of the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection, Mr Jacob Richards Opolot, said the 80-year-old plus criterion is just a proposal.
“It is a budget proposal, which is not concluded. As Members of Parliament, we believe it is available for discussion,” Mr Opolot said.
“In Uganda, persons of 80 years are very few. Poverty is widespread; even some people of 50 years are hard up. We can engage and make concessions. Eighty years is too high, but the principle is a national roll out,” he added.

nwesonga @ug.nationmedia.com