Government warns SACCO saboteurs
Aug 24, 2008
FORMER Vice-President Specioza Wandira Kazibwe has vowed to expose politicians who decampaign government programmes.
By Chris Ocowun
FORMER Vice-President Specioza Wandira Kazibwe has vowed to expose politicians who decampaign government programmes.
She said such politicians were frustrating schemes like the Bonna Bagaggawale (Prosperity-for-All) in which the Government was sinking billions of shillings to help the poor people in rural areas improve their standards of living.
Kazibwe was also angry that politicians were interfering with the activities of Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs) through which Prosperity-for-All is being implemented.
Kazibwe heads the board of directors of the Uganda Microfinance Support Centre that gives loans to the SACCOs.
She made the remarks on Saturday at the Mayor’s Gardens in Gulu town after opening the regional offices of the Uganda Cooperative Savings and Credit Union.
The office will serve 11 districts in Acholi and Lango sub-region as well as Masindi and Buliisa districts.
“If you stop SACCOs in your area, then you want people to remain poor and not empowered so that you can exploit them. I will strangle anybody who decampaigns government programmes,†Kazibwe warned.
“We want you to make money so that Uganda ceases to be seen as a country with the lowest savings in the world,†she added.
“Many of the microfinance institutions and NGOs that claim to help the people have instead fleeced the common man.â€
Kazibwe explained that the organisations claim to lend money to people at only 3% interest but they ended up paying 33% annually.
“You are just a conduit for them to collect more money to justify their existence.â€
The microfinance state minister, Gen. Salim Saleh, paid the union’s office rent for two years and informed the cooperatives in the region that the ministry had set aside sh34b from which they could borrow money for their activities.
He also gave the union a money safe, office furniture as well as motorcycles to the SACCO leaders.
Saleh advised members to seek guidance from the Uganda Cooperative Savings and Credit Union before asking for money from the Microfinance Support Centre.
The lands, housing and urban development minister, Omara Atubo, noted that due to the over 20-year LRA war, the poverty level in the north was at 60%, far higher than in other parts of the country.
The microfinance centre’s acting zonal manager in Gulu, Wilson Balinda, said they had loaned more than sh1b to 30 SACCOs in Acholi and Lango.
He, however, complained that five of the organisations had not paid back the loans and had been taken to court.
FORMER Vice-President Specioza Wandira Kazibwe has vowed to expose politicians who decampaign government programmes.
She said such politicians were frustrating schemes like the Bonna Bagaggawale (Prosperity-for-All) in which the Government was sinking billions of shillings to help the poor people in rural areas improve their standards of living.
Kazibwe was also angry that politicians were interfering with the activities of Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs) through which Prosperity-for-All is being implemented.
Kazibwe heads the board of directors of the Uganda Microfinance Support Centre that gives loans to the SACCOs.
She made the remarks on Saturday at the Mayor’s Gardens in Gulu town after opening the regional offices of the Uganda Cooperative Savings and Credit Union.
The office will serve 11 districts in Acholi and Lango sub-region as well as Masindi and Buliisa districts.
“If you stop SACCOs in your area, then you want people to remain poor and not empowered so that you can exploit them. I will strangle anybody who decampaigns government programmes,†Kazibwe warned.
“We want you to make money so that Uganda ceases to be seen as a country with the lowest savings in the world,†she added.
“Many of the microfinance institutions and NGOs that claim to help the people have instead fleeced the common man.â€
Kazibwe explained that the organisations claim to lend money to people at only 3% interest but they ended up paying 33% annually.
“You are just a conduit for them to collect more money to justify their existence.â€
The microfinance state minister, Gen. Salim Saleh, paid the union’s office rent for two years and informed the cooperatives in the region that the ministry had set aside sh34b from which they could borrow money for their activities.
He also gave the union a money safe, office furniture as well as motorcycles to the SACCO leaders.
Saleh advised members to seek guidance from the Uganda Cooperative Savings and Credit Union before asking for money from the Microfinance Support Centre.
The lands, housing and urban development minister, Omara Atubo, noted that due to the over 20-year LRA war, the poverty level in the north was at 60%, far higher than in other parts of the country.
The microfinance centre’s acting zonal manager in Gulu, Wilson Balinda, said they had loaned more than sh1b to 30 SACCOs in Acholi and Lango.
He, however, complained that five of the organisations had not paid back the loans and had been taken to court.