The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kikuube, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Authorities in Kikuube district are struggling to recover a sum of 1.12 billion Shillings that was distributed to various savings groups under a presidential initiative commonly known as emyooga.
The presidential initiative was rolled out in October 2020 to support among others, market vendors, welders, taxi drivers, carpenters, boda-boda riders, women, performing artists and restaurant owners who come together in form of savings and credit co-operative societies. The aim was to boost strategies to transform 68 percent of Ugandan homesteads from subsistence to market-oriented production.
Under the initiative, the government set aside 100 billion Shillings, with each constituency receiving 560 million Shillings to create job opportunities, increase access to specialized financial services to rural areas, particularly to women, youth and Persons with Disabilities to improve the household income of the project beneficiaries and enhance the entrepreneurial capacity of different categories through sensitization, skilling and tooling.
In Kikuube district, there were 826 Emyooga groups created out of 36 savings and credit cooperative societies. Eighteen of the SACCOs are from Buhaguzi East Constituency, while the rest are from Buhaguzi West Constituency and these collectively shared a total of 1.12 billion Shillings from the Emyooga funds.
Kikuube District Senior Commercial Officer Fatuma Businge told Uganda Radio Network in an interview on Thursday that several SACCO members who took the money to boost their enterprises have failed to pay back the funds despite the expiry of the grace period. According to Businge, emyooga is a revolving fund and failure by one group to pay back affects other beneficiaries.
Kikuube District Resident Commissioner Amlan Tumusiime has issued a one-week ultimatum to the groups to refund the money and cautioned that all those who fail to pay back face arrest for frustrating the government programme.
According to Tumusiime, some of the group members after receiving the Emyooga varnished to an unknown destination while others misused the money to marry more women.
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