Money lenders failing Emyooga projects - govt
Being wise involves having some financial integrity. PHOTO/FILE/NMG.
What you need to know:
- In a report on the progress of the Emyooga presidential initiative presented to President Museveni on May 30 at the ongoing retreat in Kyankwanzi, a number of fraud and extortion cases were raised.
Members of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Parliamentary Caucus have attributed the slow progress of the Emyooga programme to cases of fraud and money lenders who see its success as a threat to their businesses.
In a report on the progress of the Emyooga presidential initiative presented to President Museveni on May 30 at the ongoing retreat in Kyankwanzi, a number of fraud and extortion cases were raised.
“Money lenders have continued to fight the programme because the programme’s good performance is a threat to their business since they lend at over 100 percent [interest rates] to the borrowers, some of whom are beneficiaries of Emyooga,” Mr Haruna Kasolo, the State minister for Finance, Planning and Economic Development (Microfinance), said while quoting the report.
“There has been reported fraud, extortion, connivance, and mismanagement of Emyooga funds by some Sacco leaders, district officials, and some staff of the banks. This was reported in Namutumba, Masaka, Shema, Kalagala, and Kalungu districts,” the report added.
Other Emyooga challenges are the high operational costs of Saccos, poor leadership at Sacco levels, the concentration of traders in the same location, the misconception of the programme, and poor attitude.
“The programme has been misconstrued in some places as a fund bonanza, partially because the programme was introduced during the elections period. This gave room for distortion of the message,” the minister said.
Mr Kasolo added that by the end of the first five years of the Emyoga implementation, the programme will be able to increase access to credit finances, reduce informality in the programme and digitalising Saccos’ operations among others.
About emyooga
Emyooga is one of the presidential initiatives on job and wealth creation introduced in 2019 to extend affordable seed capital of to groups or associations who engage in related activities at a parish level. Beneficiary groups include welders, carpenters, market vendors, mechanics, youth leaders, journalists, and boda boda riders, among others.
The Trade ministry noted that a total of 6, 761 Emyooga Saccos have been registered around the country after fulfilling the necessary requirements under the Cooperatives Societies Act. A total of Shs259.1b seed capital has been directly disbursed to the accounts of 6,743 constituency emyooga Saccos while 6,518 saccos have disbursed funds to members in 62,437 parish based-associations.
