Government rolls out e-payment for social cash transfer in Nkhotakota
Malawi’s Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare has rolled out electronic payment (E-payment) to over 7, 000 beneficiaries of the Social Cash Transfer Programme in Nkhotakota.
Nkhotakota comes fourth on the districts that are implementing digital SCTP payment after Thyolo, Karonga and Blantyre.
Speaking during the rollout of the initiative at Kampala Ground in Nkhotakota, the Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Patricia Kaliati, said the initiative will reduce workload the district office had in doing payments.
“This is an efficient way of paying as beneficiaries will be receiving their payments in time unlike in the past,” she said.
Kaliati said the payments will be made through Telecom Network Malawi (TNM) Mpamba in their handsets, which have been given to them.
She added that the electronic payments will reduce distance and time beneficiaries were spending to receive their payments at the District Commissioner’s office.
National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) and TNM are implementing partners in the initiative.
NLGFC Acting Director of Infrastructure and Economic Development, Stanley Chuthi said with support from the World Bank, the committee is implementing the Social Support for Resilient Livelihood (SSRL) project that is supporting social cash transfer, smart climate as well as public works.
“In social cash transfer we noted it was manual intensive, fraud and alot of administrative expenditures so we wanted to simplify the project method through e-payment,” he said.
TNM Mpamba Manager, Maleck Kaziputa, said the company is complimenting government efforts to achieve its objectives in financial inclusion.
“As a local mobile service provider, we are privileged to offer mobile money services to the beneficiaries,” he said.
Kaziputa said the initiative will also create many jobs for young people as Mpamba mobile agents to assist the beneficiaries.
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