The Minister of Information, Communications Technology and National Guidance Dr. Chris Baryomunsi has confirmed that the Government has blocked simcards of those individuals who received Covid-19 relief funds more than once.
Dr. Baryomunsi said on Thursday that the simcards of those who benefitted more than once will only be unblocked after returning the exra money they received.
“We believe there was a mistake as they were sending money, so we want to recover the extra after that, the affected simcards will be unblocked. This is not a problem, they blocked their numbers because the senders (telecom companies) made mistakes and we cannot blame them. So what they are doing is to see that they recover some money before some people use it all.”
One of the victims (name withheld) is a resident of Luzira who said that his simcard was blocked on Wednesday and up now he cannot make any transactions.
“I received Nabbanja’s money twice on my Airtel line but surprisingly I had not even registered for this relief, so I don’t know where they got my number and all the credentials. When I received the money I withdrew all of it and went shopping. However, yesterday my line was blocked I can’t make any transactions and when I inquired from the customer care center they told me that because I received Nabbanja’s money twice and withdrew it all that is why it was blocked,” he said.
