By Sophan Niwamanya
apearlnews.com
The Minister of state for microfinance and small enterprises, Haruna Kyeyune Kasolo, has tasked the Kabale district commercial officer to present the list of Emyooga defaulters within three days in Kabale district.
The Minister was today addressing the leaders and beneficiaries of Ndorwa West and Kabale Municipality during the monitoring of Emyooga progress. The Minister started the visit today as he tours the whole of Kigezi this week and next week.
Kyeyune noted that even though the Emyooga money came in the season of politics, President Museveni didn’t direct all of you to spend it on luxuries.
President Museveni initiated this to fight poverty, and it is time to prioritize saving culture in a bid to overcome poverty.
He directed the Kabale district commercial officer, Mildred Tusimiirwe, to identify all defaulters in Emyooga, giving her a transport of 200K to help in writing the names, amounts of money, places of residence, and telephone numbers of defaulters from Ndorwa West and Ndorwa East of Kabale District.
He revealed that the reason we are poor is because of our financial indiscipline, urging people to desist from spending money on luxuries.
He went on to say that people don’t save money because they aren’t taught how to spend it.
Kabale district resident commissioner, Godfrey Nyakahuma, revealed that there was a lot of politics when the Emyoga program was introduced here in Kabale district. He adds that it stalled the program because politicians feigned interest.
However, the Kabale district woman member of parliament, Hon Catherine Ndamira Atwakire, requested that Hon Minister Kasolo allow beneficiaries to recover from debts since most businesses were affected during the Katuna border closure and COVID-19.
She also asked the government to increase the emyooga money so that the groups could have enough savings in a bid to fight poverty.
The Presidential Initiative on Wealth and Job Creation (Emyooga) was launched in August 2019 as part of the broad government strategy targeted at transforming 68% of homesteads from subsistence to market-oriented production with the overall objective of promoting job creation and improving household incomes. The initiative is centered on various 18 categories/enterprises/Emyooga covering the majority of the hitherto financially excluded Ugandans engaged in similar specialized enterprise categories.
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