By NORMA SIAME –

GOVERNMENT has directed community development officers to review the names of beneficiaries of the Social Cash Transfer (SCT) and the Food Security Pack.
Community Development deputy Minister Josephine Limata received complaints when she visited Chipili in Luapula Province on how the disbursement of Government assistance was being handled.
Some residents complained that the same people were benefiting from the SCT and the food security pack.
Ms Limata said Government would not allow a situation where only a few people benefited from such programmes.
“Government is aware of the huge number of people that need assistance and we are looking at ways to increase the number of beneficiaries,” she said.
She said the programme was aimed at helping the vulnerable people in society and that Government would not let the people down.
Ms Limata wondered how the same people could be benefiting from all government programmes, especially that the people that chose the beneficiaries were local people who knew their needs well.
One of the beneficiaries Elizabeth Chanda, commended Government for coming up with the empowerment schemes.
Ms Chanda said the food Security pack programme had transformed the lives of many that benefited from it.
She called on Government to increase the number of the beneficiaries as more people in the area needed  assistance.
More than 2,000 people benefit from the two intervention programmes by Government.