Like most of the plans to fix a crisis in Lebanon, the application process doesn’t happen as planned, and this is exactly what is happening with the Lebanese families who have registered on the platform of the Ministry of Social Affairs to benefit from the aid program.
More than 550,000 families are registered. 150,000 of them are registered for the “Aman” card, with the rest meant to benefit from the “financing card.”
However, the application of the “Aman” card, which has benefited about 72,000 families so far, is marred by some problems and ambiguities.
These were exposed by the volume of complaints that reached the ministry about the benefit of people who are not entitled to assistance, at the expense of families suffering from poverty.
The Minister of Social Affairs in the caretaker government, Hector Hajjar, is trying to address these gaps.
An official source in the Ministry of Affairs explained that “the lack of organization caused problems and complaints”, especially since many families who registered on “Aman” did not get their cards yet, while others have benefited from this card for months, which created confusion and complaints.
The sources indicated that “550 thousand families have registered, and those who are registered in the Ministry’s departments are the poorest, and they have a different card than the “Aman” card.
Out of the 150,000 families registered for the “Aman” card, only 72,000 received their cards.
As for the remaining 325,000 families registered for the aid program, they are meant to benefit from the financing card plan, which hasn’t yet been funded as it is pending agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).