CDF Kainerugaba sets sh1b MK fund in motion

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Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba has set his shillings one billion MK project for the most vulnerable Ugandans in motion.

Veteran journalist and spokesperson of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), Andrew Mwenda, said in a statement that the CDF chaired the inaugural meeting of the MK Fund in Fort Portal City on March 10, 2026.

“Gen. Muhoozi said the Fund will serve those segments of society that are most vulnerable such as urban youths,” he said.

Muhoozi, who is also the First Son, is known in political circles by his initials MK.

Mwenda also said the fund will be giving seed grants to youths with innovative business ideas in commercial agriculture, services, local manufacturing and ICT.

He explained that the seed grants will be given to individuals, with each person receiving not more than shillings one million in cash, and that beneficiaries will not need to pay back the money.

“The only payback will be the success of the recipient,” he quoted Muhoozi as saying.

Muhoozi, who is the chairperson of the board of trustees of the MK Fund and also the chairperson of PLU, also said the board is meant to provide direction and oversight to the Fund.

“He also said the board will set up a review committee to examine and evaluate applications from those who want to apply for money from the Fund,” Mwenda said.

Members of the board include ministers Jane Ruth Aceng (health) and Frank Tumwebaze (agriculture), city lawyer Edwin Karugire, who is its secretary and Mwenda.

The PLU spokesperson also stated that the fund is going to establish a website through which applications will be submitted online.

“Details of the eligibility for accessing the fund will be found on the website. Although the initial size will be sh1b, the chairman and the board of trustees will look for ways to grow the fund so that it does not get exhausted and also be able to serve more people,” he said.

He added that the fund will ensure that a minimum of 30% of the grants will go to female candidates and that it will also ensure regional balancing.

PLU, formerly known as the MK Movement, was launched in Kampala on February 7, 2024, as a civic organisation to mobilise Ugandans towards the goal of national unity, peace and stability.

However, the MK Movement started in April 2022 as “a spontaneous and diverse group of Ugandans that rallied around Gen. Muhoozi to appreciate his military service and the service of his army comrades to the Republic of Uganda”.