The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs has announced a new mobile payment system aimed at improving the efficiency of social cash transfers in Mzimba.
Beginning in December, beneficiaries of the Social Cash Transfer Programme will start receiving their funds through Kaku Pay, a mobile wallet service.
At a recent meeting with stakeholders in Mzimba, Principal Economist Johnfunny Mwale explained that the goal of this new system is to reduce delays that often happen with traditional manual payments.
The system will help ensure that recipients in remote areas receive funds as quickly as everyone else, removing the barriers of distance and access.
Wealth Net, a provider of digital financial services, will operate the transactions on the Kaku Pay platform. According to Dingiswayo Zulu from Wealth Net, the company is prepared to support this new process and plans to offer mobile phones on small loans to beneficiaries who lack them, ensuring everyone can participate in the mobile system.
Jane Chidengu, a payment expert from the National Local Government Finance Committee, highlighted that switching to mobile payments addresses the challenges manual payments present for recipients in remote areas.
According to social welfare officer Shadreck Mingo, responsible for social cash transfers in Mzimba, the program currently supports over 19,000 beneficiaries in the district. This new system promises to make receiving funds more convenient and faster for them.
