The Department of Social Welfare, under the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, plans to provide social pensions to approximately 200,000 senior citizens aged over 85 in the 2024–2025 financial year.
A total of 163,502 elderly people is entitled to receive K10,000 per month, with payments made every three months during the third phase of this financial year, according to an official from the department.
In the 2023–2024 financial year, a total of K16.74 billion has been provided as social pensions to senior citizens over the age of 85, with the ministry allocated funds for support during both the first and second quarters of the 2024–2025 financial year.
The scheme has been implemented under the social protection system since 2017. In the 2017–2018 financial year, a total of 49,009 beneficiaries over the age of 90 received social pensions, while in the 2018-2019 financial year, 188,740 beneficiaries over the age of 85 were provided with social pensions. In the financial year 2020-2021, the ministry supported 248,322 beneficiaries. — TWA/TH
