Postbank Speaks Out On Covid-19 Relief Payment

By Nathan Ngobi

Postbank has spoken out on an a tripartite arrangement with Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development together with the Telecom companies to pay beneficiaries of the Covid Relief Fund.

Recently, it emerged that some beneficiaries received the money twice, putting the bank and the teleco in the line.

But explaining the mess, Doreen Nyiramugisha Agaba, the bank’s Head Marketing and Communications says the bank submits daily returns to the Ministry and to the Office of the Prime Minister which she says include the beneficiaries who have been paid as per the instructions.

To date, Nyiramugisha says, the bank has paid 415,574 beneficiaries spread across the country out of the target 501,107 households, amounting to UGX 42,565,166,950. Of the beneficiary payments made so far, 6,011 were paid twice. “This was a single incident relating to a batch upload file which the bank quickly identified and immediately flagged to Airtel. The duplication had nothing to do with the data from the Ministry,” Nyiramugisha said.

She notes that to date more than 60% has been recovered and the outstanding amount is UGX 242,195,575 (0.56% of total payments).

“The bank would like to reiterate that this matter is being resolved with Airtel and all the intended beneficiaries will be paid as per the future instructions. The bank is only waiting for the list of the pending beneficiaries to complete this exercise,” Nyiramugisha noted in a statement Tuesday adding, “PostBank remains committed to transforming the lives and livelihoods of Ugandans through offering affordable and sustainable financial solutions. The Bank commends Ugandans for their resilience in this fight against COVID – 19 and calls upon everyone to continue prioritising their health and safety through unswerving observance of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).”