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OVER 60 000 GO HUNGRY AS WFP AID STOPS

12/02/2021 23:25:00 By Bonsile Makhubu

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MBABANE – The tightening of COVID-19 regulations has deprived 64 750 beneficiaries of their grants and food aid for January.

These are beneficiaries of the World Food Programme (WFP) aid which comes in the form of cash for some and food parcels for others.

These are people from certain constituencies that were enrolled to get food parcels and cash amounts of E140 per person as relief from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The financial support started in March 2020 through the assistance of World Vision.

In December 2020 the beneficiaries received messages notifying them that the support would come to an end at the end of March 2021.

Development

However, they claimed that in January they did not receive the grants as usual and apparently there was no explanation for that development.

“We have been trying to call the numbers that were presented to us for inquiries but they are not being answered,” some residents of Corporation said.

The residents said they usually received the money between the 18th and the 20th of the month. When they spoke to this reporter it was already the 30th of January.

They said even though the amount may seem paltry, it went a long way in meeting their needs, especially because it came in every month.

At first the residents alleged that when they learnt that some people from other constituencies got the money, they rushed to find out from the authorities of their constituency.

Explanation

“Unfortunately we did not get an explanation because our Constituency Headman was not there and our Bucopho could not explain what was happening,” they alleged.

WFP Head of Programme Diason Ngirazi confirmed that no beneficiary received payments in January 2021.

He said this was caused by the fact that all food distributions were suspended following the reviewed COVID-19 directives related to gatherings.

“For fairness purposes, cash transfers were suspended to avoid a situation where cash beneficiaries continued to enjoy benefits while food beneficiaries were left out. This was duly communicated to the Tinkhundla Council,” he said.

He said otherwise the grants were still paid out to beneficiaries in the constituencies that WFP was assigned by government.

“In partnership with World Vision, we are also supporting the people in kind as food is also being provided to some constituencies, a programme that started in December. These food parcels include 10kg rice, 10kg mealie meal, 2kg beans and oil per household,” he said.

He said it was not true that some beneficiaries continued to enjoy the grant and food aid.

“All beneficiaries did not receive payments across all nine constituencies supported by WFP in partnership with World Vision International and ACAT where the programme reaches 64 750 people,” Ngirazi said.

He also confirmed that the beneficiaries were informed about the termination of the support next month.

Effects

Foreign media houses have reported that the WFP has cut food aid for refugees in Rwanda due to the effects of COVID-19 on the global economy.

“This decision will affect approximately 135 000 refugees from both Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) hosted in all camps across the country,” the Iriba News reported on Thursday.

WFP Communications Emily Fredenberg was quoted as having said, “Due to critical funding shortfalls, WFP in Rwanda will have to reduce food assistance rations to all refugees living in camps.”

It was revealed that in order to sustain the assistance from March 2021 to June 2021, the WFP would need US$9 million while it would require US$20.6 million to continue with the food aid throughout 2021.

The refugees are also getting cash transfers on a monthly basis to meet their food needs.

The budget for Eswatini’s programme could not be immediately established.