NAADS must improve lives of beneficiaries â€" Janet
Sep 14, 2011
The NAADS programme has to benefit the intended beneficiaries this time round, the First Lady and Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Janet Museveni, has said.
By Vision Reporter
The NAADS programme has to benefit the intended beneficiaries this time round, the First Lady and Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Janet Museveni, has said.
She added that any person found messing with the NAADS programme, at whatever level, will face the law.
This was after many of the NAADS beneficiaries from the seven districts of Karamoja reported irregularities in the programme implementation in their areas.
The minister, who is in the region to find out the progress of NAADS and other Government programmes, has been interacting with beneficiaries, sub-county co-ordinators and district leaders at different meetings in all the districts of Karamoja.
The Minister of State for Karamoja Affairs, Barbara Nekesa Oundo, and area MPs are actively involved in the programme.
Some beneficiaries complained of being given less money contrary to the inflated cost of inputs, distribution of sickly or very young animals and wrong choice of enterprises like goats for urban settings.
Others said they were asked to pay money before they could be registered as NAADS beneficiaries, while others reported that they were asked to take their own animals for ear-tagging, and these were now the ones being identified as NAADS animals.
Mrs. Museveni encouraged the NAADS beneficiaries to participate at all levels of the programme, saying it was then that they would be able to identify their preferred enterprises and the costs instead of waiting to be given weak, sickly and dying animals.
She advised the farmers to always reject enterprises given to them if they are not commensurate with the money allocated to each farmer.
She requested area MPs to try and help the farmers choose enterprises they can manage. She also urged them to start following up on Government programmes in their constituencies to ascertain value for money.
She advised the implementers of the NAADS programme to guard against diverting funds meant for the people’s inputs to other operations.
Mrs. Museveni reiterated the Movement government’s commitment to changing the lives of the people. She cited other programmes like UPE, USE, abolishment of graduated tax, saying they are all geared towards this cause.
She lamented that the NAADS programme, which was meant to help the poorest of the poor, had been mismanaged since its inception and was still being messed up even after being redesigned it twice.
She, however, encouraged the people not to lose hope, saying the Government would ensure that NAADS is streamlined to benefit them.
Janet Museveni also told the communities that she had hope that the redesigned NUSAF programme (NUSAF 2), which will now be based at community level, will this time help in the transformation of the livelihoods of the Karimojong.
The Minister of State for Karamoja Affairs, Barbara Nekesa Oundo, implored the leaders to always give the people what was intended for them and the right information so that government programmes are implemented properly.
She advised the communities to own and make the best use of all government programmes for their development.
She also advised the Karimojong to abandon the culture of not exposing those who sabotage government programmes by embezzling funds.
Other issues of contention pointed out during the meetings included the inbalance in the amount of money allocated to the food security and market-oriented farmers over their pastrolist counterparts, the animal quarantine which has made livestock technology hard to get and the fact that sub-counties are allocated the same amount of money irrespective of their difference in size and population.
The NAADS programme has to benefit the intended beneficiaries this time round, the First Lady and Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Janet Museveni, has said.
She added that any person found messing with the NAADS programme, at whatever level, will face the law.
This was after many of the NAADS beneficiaries from the seven districts of Karamoja reported irregularities in the programme implementation in their areas.
The minister, who is in the region to find out the progress of NAADS and other Government programmes, has been interacting with beneficiaries, sub-county co-ordinators and district leaders at different meetings in all the districts of Karamoja.
The Minister of State for Karamoja Affairs, Barbara Nekesa Oundo, and area MPs are actively involved in the programme.
Some beneficiaries complained of being given less money contrary to the inflated cost of inputs, distribution of sickly or very young animals and wrong choice of enterprises like goats for urban settings.
Others said they were asked to pay money before they could be registered as NAADS beneficiaries, while others reported that they were asked to take their own animals for ear-tagging, and these were now the ones being identified as NAADS animals.
Mrs. Museveni encouraged the NAADS beneficiaries to participate at all levels of the programme, saying it was then that they would be able to identify their preferred enterprises and the costs instead of waiting to be given weak, sickly and dying animals.
She advised the farmers to always reject enterprises given to them if they are not commensurate with the money allocated to each farmer.
She requested area MPs to try and help the farmers choose enterprises they can manage. She also urged them to start following up on Government programmes in their constituencies to ascertain value for money.
She advised the implementers of the NAADS programme to guard against diverting funds meant for the people’s inputs to other operations.
Mrs. Museveni reiterated the Movement government’s commitment to changing the lives of the people. She cited other programmes like UPE, USE, abolishment of graduated tax, saying they are all geared towards this cause.
She lamented that the NAADS programme, which was meant to help the poorest of the poor, had been mismanaged since its inception and was still being messed up even after being redesigned it twice.
She, however, encouraged the people not to lose hope, saying the Government would ensure that NAADS is streamlined to benefit them.
Janet Museveni also told the communities that she had hope that the redesigned NUSAF programme (NUSAF 2), which will now be based at community level, will this time help in the transformation of the livelihoods of the Karimojong.
The Minister of State for Karamoja Affairs, Barbara Nekesa Oundo, implored the leaders to always give the people what was intended for them and the right information so that government programmes are implemented properly.
She advised the communities to own and make the best use of all government programmes for their development.
She also advised the Karimojong to abandon the culture of not exposing those who sabotage government programmes by embezzling funds.
Other issues of contention pointed out during the meetings included the inbalance in the amount of money allocated to the food security and market-oriented farmers over their pastrolist counterparts, the animal quarantine which has made livestock technology hard to get and the fact that sub-counties are allocated the same amount of money irrespective of their difference in size and population.