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Masaka Cooperative Union donates food items to fasting Muslims and COVID-19 task force

Masaka Cooperative Union Limited has donated food items to the COVID-19 task forces in the districts of Masaka, Bukomansimbi, Kalungu, Sembabule and Lwengo to support needy communities in the area.

The donations that were handed over to the respective task forces on Friday and Saturday include 4000kg of maize flour, to be distributed among people hardest hit by lockdown restrictions.

The cooperative also donated 1000kg of rice, 200kg of sugar, ten boxes of soap and cooking oil to the fasting Muslim community in Masaka.

Sarah Nabbanja, the SACCO Manager, Masaka Cooperative Union Savings and Credit Society, while handing over the items, noted that the board found it necessary to support the community in these trying times.

“This is our humble contribution to supplement the support of other players that have come in to help those people in need. We chose this as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility,” she noted.

Nabbanja explained that, by default, the beneficiaries of the relief support items are in some way connected to members of the Cooperative Union who are scattered in the different primary societies across the sub region.

“We are certainly giving back to the community that supports and has this cooperative union at heart.”

Herman Ssentongo and Jjuuko Kasiita, the Masaka and Lwengo Resident District Commissioners, appreciated the support from the cooperative, saying would help them solve some food challenges they have been facing in their districts.

Sheikh Ahmed Kayemba, the Secretary General of Masaka Muslim District Council also thanked the union for acknowledging the significance of fasting in the Islamic faith and accepting to sharing with them.

Sheikh Kayemba, however, challenged the union’s management to work towards full revival of the farmers’ cooperative which he says was of great importance to the coffee business in the sub region.

Masaka Cooperative Union Limited, was one of Uganda’s most prominent coffee farmers’ unions, but suffered a setback due to the political strife that befell the country in the 1970’s and 80’s.  Of late, efforts are being made to restore the union to its former glory.

 

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