LIRA – President Yoweri Museveni has called upon Ugandans to embrace cooperatives if they want to create wealth and attain prosperity.
Museveni made the call last Saturday in a speech read for him by health minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng as Uganda joined the rest of the world to mark International Day of Cooperatives, with the national celebrations hosted at the Mayors’ Garden in Lira City.
The Day’s national celebrations were co-hosted by Lango Cooperative Union and Walimu Cooperative Union under the theme, “Cooperatives for sustainable development”.
Museveni said there is a lot of wealth one can get through cooperatives. “I call upon all Ugandans to embrace cooperatives so as to reap the economic and social benefits that they offer,” Museveni was quoted.
He urged people to work hard to achieve development. “Development alone is not enough, though it must come first, development is a collective good for everyone, but wealth and jobs belong to individuals, families, groups, or companies,” he said.
He urged leaders of both cooperatives and other sectors to guide people to use the available opportunities like infrastructures to generate wealth for themselves.
“Therefore, I call upon the leaders to help our people translate the prevailing positive conditions of peace and good infrastructure like roads, and electricity to create jobs and wealth.”
The President promised to support cooperatives as wealth creators, including the re-establishment of the Cooperative Bank.
“Government is committed to supporting cooperatives through favourable legislations and creation of an environment that enhances their growth,” he said, adding that the NRM government is focused on creating more wealth creators, by supporting the people of Uganda to join the money economy,” he said.
Speaking at the function, Fredrick Ngobi Gume, the State Minister for Cooperatives appreciated the opportunities that the Government has offered to cooperatives in Uganda such as Parish Development Model [PDM] launched to help poor Ugandans create wealth for themselves.
“Therefore, the conducive atmosphere provided by government is enough for the prosperity of the cooperative movement in this country. I have a belief that we will continue and achieve our desired goals,” Ngobi said.
Meanwhile, Uganda Cooperative Alliance chairman board of directors Jonas Tweyambe asked government to upgrade the two co-operative collages [Uganda Cooperative College Tororo and Uganda Cooperative College Kigumba] to degree-awarding institutions in order to improve co-operative education in Uganda.
Currently, there are more than 40,000 cooperatives in Uganda, including the recently formed 10,594 PDM SACCOs under the PDM to help poor citizens begin the journey of wealth creation and prosperity.
Some of the cooperatives that attended the national celebrations of International Day of Cooperatives in Lira City were; Lango Cooperative Union, Walimu Cooperative Union, Uganda Revenue Authority Staff Cooperative SACCO, Exodus SACCO, Wazalendo SACCO, Uganda Cooperative College Tororo, Oryem Can Karacel Cooperative SACCO, among others Alito Joint Multipurpose Cooperative Society.
The event was organised by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives [MTIC], Uganda Cooperative Alliance [UCA] in partneship with Lango Cooperative Union, Walimu Cooperative Union and The Uhuru Institute for Social Development [TUI].
https://thecooperator.news/the-role-of-cooperatives-in-achieving-sustainable-development/
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