By Prince j Musa in Kenema
The National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) has denied any wrongdoing in the distribution of rice and other relief supplies to the disabled community.
The agency was tasked with the distribution of relief supplies including rice, cash, and Veronica Bucket to the disabled people as part of efforts by the government to cushion the effect of anti-covid-19 restrictions on the vulnerable members of society. But it came under attack last week in Kenema were critics said it gave the beneficiaries less than it was supposed to.
Senior Director of Programs at NaCSA, Mohamed Rashid Bah, said the complaints were the result of misunderstanding which he blamed on miscommunication between his agency and the other coordinating partners involved – the Ministry of Social Welfare and the National Commission for People with Disabilities (NCPD).
The complaints were made via social and the electronic media.
Mr Bah told Politico that a lack of a comprehensive list for the beneficiaries was a major factor leading to the miscommunication.
“When we started this process as a Commission, we didn’t know the exert number of the disabled to capture in the distribution and there was no list for Kenema city,” he said.
He added that the figures they got from the Ministry of Social Welfare and the NCPD indicated that they had less number of beneficiaries than it turned out to be. He said while they took 200 bags of rice to Kenema, over 400 people eventually turned up.
Each beneficiary was to receive a bag of rice of 25kg with Le250, 000. There were reports that the distribution was done such that two people shared a bag of rice.
“The combination of two disabled per a bag of rice was the result of a misunderstanding that occurred as there was break of communication between the Commission, Social Welfare and NCPD,” Bah said.
He added that another problem was that while they targeted people staying in Kenema City, a lot of the people who showed up came from outside the city. He noted that while the scheme catered for disabled who do not have people to care for them and who live on the streets, many of those who turned up were living with families or caretakers.
The distribution exercise was first done shortly before the nationwide lockdown from April 5 to 7.
Mr Bah was speaking to Politico last week, during the second phase of the distribution process in Kenema. He said from their experience during the first phase, this time round they took along 330 bags of rice.
Mr Bah assured the disabled community that the government’s Social Safety Net programme would capture all those left out in the emergency relief distribution scheme.
Michael S. Gborie, regional coordinator east, NCPD, corroborated Mr Bah’s point. He said the information was clear that each person should get a bag of rice, but that since they didn’t have enough supplies to take care of the number of people that turned up, they decided to spread the supply.
“We agreed not to let others out and to see how everybody can benefit from the rice supply,” he said.
“NCPD need to do massive data collection on disabled so that this will help the commission to get record of them at all times,” he stressed.
Gborie also expressed concern that while the focus of the distribution was on the most vulnerable people on the street, they also had other deserving members like the dumb, deaf, who also turned up for their own share.
Copyright (c) 2020 Politic Online
