KABAROLE – The Kabarole resident district commissioner [RDC], Festus Bandeeba has warned Emyooga SACCO leaders against asking members for collateral before they can be given loans for production.
Bandeeba said he had received reports alleging that some Emyooga SACCO leaders have turned the programme into a money lending business, asking those who need loans to present some movable items as security.
“I call upon the general public to report any leader of any Emyooga SACCOs who will be found using the members’ money to do his / her money lending business. This is contrary to the programme guidelines,” he said.
Bandeeba added that Emyooga money is supposed to benefit all the members in their respective SACCOs, not individuals who want to use it for their own benefit.
He made the remarks on Tuesday during the consultative meeting attended by Emyooga SACCO leaders and Kabarole district officials at the district headquarters in Kitumba.
“This programme is meant to help the targeted group get out of poverty and the only security for someone to get a loan is their savings. Nobody should turn it into his or her own business as an individual and nobody is supposed to charge interest rate higher than what was set,” Bandeeba warned.
He called upon the general public to be on the watch and report whoever tries to act contrary to the program guidelines.
Other issues
Bandeeba was concerned about how Emyooga SACCO members are defaulting on loans.
“The rate at which members are defaulting is so alarming. We have now decided to first sensitise you before we take action because we have realised most of you are yet to understand the programme” he said.
He said some people still think Emyooga money is a token from President Yoweri Museveni and he said there is a need to convince the beneficiaries that the money under the programme is meant to help them get out of poverty.
The Kabarole district senior commercial officer, Christine Kengonzi noted that some members are being given money without being told how to use it.
“From this consultative meeting SACCO leaders have been told to always sensitize and advise their members on how to use the money before they take it so that it can benefit them and be able to pay back,” she said.
She however appealed to those who took the loans to pay back, saying being a revolving fund; it is supposed to benefit everyone in their respective SACCOs.
The chairperson of Burahya Market Vendors Omwooga SACCO, Specioza Mugisa said some members of the associations that took loans initially failed to pay back, forcing her to visit them and establish why they defaulted.
“I was concerned when my members were not paying back the money which they took in form of loans. But when I visited each of them, I realised they had not understood the programme and I took an initiative together with my executive to sensitise them and it worked out,” she said.
Emyooga programme is a presidential initiative on wealth and job creation that was launched in August 2019 as part of the broad government strategy targeting to transform 68 percent of homesteads from subsistence to market-oriented production with the overall objective of promoting job creation and improving household incomes.
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