Busoga leaders protest diversion of women cash

Jinja. Leaders in Busoga Sub-region have questioned the criteria followed in the apportionment of the Uganda Women’s Entrepreneurship (Uwep) cash, saying much of it was spent on technocrats.

According to the leaders, government allocated Shs116 million to the women beneficiaries under the government programme but a paltry Shs26m was spent on financially strained women who are supposed to be the beneficiaries under the government- funded and Shs90m spent on operations.

The five-year project that targets vulnerable women, the unemployed, women with disabilities, women living with HIV/Aids and women in hard-to-reach areas, was introduced to improve the incomes of local women.

According to the Jinja District chairperson, Mr Titus Kisambira, the beneficiaries were allocated only Shs26m and Shs90m went to operations, a disparity deemed unfair.

Mr Kisambira says: “The money sent to the district this Financial Year under Uwep was little yet there are very many vulnerable women in the district. The technocrats are now benefiting from the project more than the beneficiaries because they are given a bigger budget compared to the owners of the project.”

He said he complained to the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development but nothing has been done.
Jinja chief administrative officer (CAO) William Kanyesigye says in the first phase, they requested for Shs200m but only received Shs26m.

The Kamuli Municipality Member of Parliament, Ms Rehema Watongola, says the women must be the beneficiaries not the technical people.

She says: “As Parliament, we want to abolish that. Actually, the President was also complaining about the issue of technical people getting much more money than the beneficiaries. We should use this money to benefit women instead of technical people and we want the ministry to intervene.”

Ms Watongola adds that, as Parliament, they are also advocating for an increase in the women’s budget in the next Financial Year 2018/2019 so that women in Busoga Sub-region where poverty is rampant benefit.

Kamuli assistant chief administrative officer Cornelius Kalema, says this financial year they received Shs35m including an operation fee of Shs10m while five beneficiary groups in 15 sub-counties in the district received Shs5m each.

“Government should increase the funding because we have sensitised the women and they are more than ready to manage the funds. The money is currently too little because we give out like Shs4m to a group of 12 women and in case they have a project, say of cattle rearing, it means they will only buy two cows and when it comes to sharing, it will not be enough,” Mr Kalema says.

The Luuka District chairperson, Mr Baker Luwangula, says the money allocated to their district is very little compared to the high demand from the beneficiaries.

“The money is not enough for the big number of vulnerable women in the district. For instance, in a sub-county, we end up giving only four groups out of the many.

Mr Luwangula adds that so far, the programme is going on smoothly because women are somehow honest and have not experienced any challenge yet when it comes to retuning the money compared to the Youth Fund Project.

Although Uwep programme was launched in February 2016 by the Prime Minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, many women have not yet benefited from it.

Sarah Nagayi, a 35-year-old cassava vendor residing in Jinja District, says she wanted to be one of the beneficiaries of the programme but has failed to access the money to-date.

“We formed a group of 12 to receive money and invest in our businesses but have failed several times after approaching Community Development Officers who told us that the money was too little to cater for all groups,” Ms Nagayi said.

Efforts to get a comment from the line Minister, Ms Janet Mukwaya, were futile.

In the Financial Year 2016/2017, government unveiled a Shs53b aimed at increasing women’s competitive edge in the business sector with the primary target beneficiaries of the programme being women within the age bracket of between 18 and 65 years.

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