By Damba Rogers
The state minister for gender in charge of culture, Peace Mutuzo, and the operations coordinator for the social assistance grants empowerment Sam Acudo confirm that the programme targets 200,000 new beneficiaries this year.
Currently, the SAGE program is having 174000 beneficiaries in the 135 districts with each receiving UGX.25000 per month.
As the country prepares to mark the UN day for the elderly under the COVID19 times, the elderly are facing numerous challenges ranging from discrimination, financial, medical challenges among others and the ministry deems it fit to issue the beneficiaries with their monthly stipend.
Currently, Uganda has 1.6 million elderly persons with only 300,000 benefiting from the SAGE program.
The day will be marked on 15th June under the theme, Promoting and protecting elderly persons’ rights during and after COVID19.
In Uganda, an elder person is one who has attained 60 years of age and above, according to the national policy for older persons 2009.
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