Social Ministry to Establish Monitoring System to Prevent Misappropriation of Funds
Ministry of Social Affairs has announced it will prepare a comprehensive reporting system of the beneficiaries of social assistance programs in order to prevent misappropriation of funds.
“Besides disbursing the social assistance, we’ll monitor the report of the beneficiaries. I hope there will be no misappropriation since we’ll receive report every time the aid is disbursed to the beneficiaries,” said Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini in a press statement after joining a limited meeting on Tuesday (29/12), at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta.
The reporting system, she added, will apply in February to disbursement of social assistance in January. In that regard, the Government is now finalizing the data to be completed by regional governments and must be returned to the Central Government by 1 January next year.
In 2021, the Government is set to disburse Non-cash Food Assistance to 18.8 million beneficiaries in which each one of them to receive Rp200,000/month for 12 months. Meanwhile, 10 million people will receive funds from the Aspiring Family Program (PKH) through the Association of State-owned Banks (Himbara).
“The target of the program are pregnant women, toddlers, students, persons with disabilities, and senior citizens. The disbursement will start in January, once in three months. The first phase is in January, second phase in April, while third and fourth phases are in July and October, respectively,” the Minister said.
In addition, Social-cash Assistance will be disbursed to 10 million beneficiaries in which each one of them to receive Rp300,000/month for four months. The disbursement in Greater Jakarta region will be made through state-owned postal company PT Pos Indonesia starting from 4 January next year.
“I hope the nationwide disbursement will be completed within a week. However, Papua Province is a special case since the disbursement mechanism might be different from other provinces,” Risma said.
She went on to say that the Ministry will prepare tools to monitor the use of the funds and remind the beneficiaries not to spend the money for non-essential goods such as cigarette.
“The Ministry will evaluate the beneficiaries if they use the money to buy cigarette,” she firmly said. (FID/UN) (RAS/MUR)