‘Train LEAP beneficiaries on electronic payment system’
The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, has called on Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) service providers to intensively train the beneficiaries on how to access the payment system.
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That, she said, would help them understand the benefits of the programme and why they were migrated from the cash payment system to the electronic payment system.
“It appears most of them are illiterates and do not know how to use the mobile phones that they are given, and this is worrying,” she said
Nana Oye Lithur made these statements when she visited some LEAP communities within the Ga South District to monitor payments made to beneficiaries.
The visit was also to interact with the beneficiaries and see how well they were using the money given them.
Field observations
At Insuobribi, it was observed that most of the beneficiaries, due to old age, could not access the electronic payment system themselves.
They, rather, left their mobile phones with their children or grandchildren to read information sent to them on the phone or prompt them when payments were made.
A beneficiary, who did not give her name and could hardly point to the receive and the end call buttons on her mobile phone, told this reporter that her phone was mostly handled by her daughter who at the time of the visit had gone to school.
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“I do not hold the phone. It’s always with my daughter and when the payment is made, she prompts me to go and collect it,” she said.
She, however, insisted that she preferred receiving her payments through her mobile phone because it allowed her to make calls and receive calls from her friends and families.
The situation was no different in Horbor, as some beneficiaries could not tell the minister how they accessed their payments on their mobile phones.
Some of them, out of frustration, said they preferred the old system in which they were given physical cash and did not have to go through the hustle of using the mobile phone.
Others could not tell when the messages prompting them to collect their money came through, but only went along with their mobile phones anytime other beneficiaries went to collect their money.
Payment confusion
While some of the beneficiaries said they were able to access the money given them, some explained that they were turned down anytime they went to collect their money.
In one instance, a beneficiary said she received a text message prompting her to go and receive her money but when she got to the collection point, she was told that there was no message.
Some service providers who were present during the visit could not explain how that could have happened and were not able to access their database either to trace the said information.
To find a permanent solution to the problem, the minister and the service providers resolved to ensure that payment was facilitated.
Reacting instantly to the claims, the Social Welfare Officer in the district, Mr Prosper Oye, told the Daily Graphic that the information provided by the beneficiaries was not true.
“It’s because most of them cannot read and write. They do not know what they are saying,” he said.
LEAP is free
Nana Oye advised the beneficiaries to not withdraw all the money they received, saying, “you need to withdraw what you need so that when there is an emergency, you will have a back-up to cater for your needs.”
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She also informed them that LEAP beneficiaries did not have to pay to renew their National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) because the system catered for it.
She further emphasised that they did not have to pay to collect their money, and urged them to report any official who charged them or deducted any amount of money from their benefits.
“We have had reports that some officials deduct GH¢ 2 from your benefits, and I want to say the service is free, so demand full payment and do not hesitate to report anyone who charges or takes any amount from your money,” she said.