OMORO – On the issue of membership, some members of the Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) cooperative in Omoro District have now taken positions that are at odds with the mainstream leadership – creating a new source of friction that threatens to derail the entity.
FRONASA was a Ugandan rebel group led by Yoweri Museveni. The group emerged in 1971, although it was formally founded in 1973 to fight Idi Amin’s regime.
The cooperative society with more than 3,000 members united under their umbrella organization; Awere FRONASA Cooperative Society, was established in 2017.
FRONASA cooperative gives loans to its members – largely next of kin of fallen rebels, which they pay back in three to six months with a 2.5% interest.
However, a section of members have disagreed with the direction the cooperative is taking.
Francis Odoki Rwot- Olonyo, a son of a fallen FRONASA member, told theCooperator that’ “Those benefiting in the name of the FRONASA cooperative have never been relatives of fallen comrades and whatever they are doing they are doing it in bad faith.”
“Such people are frustrating our initiative to meet President Museveni and ask him to support families of the fallen FRONASA fighters,” he said.
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Interviewed, Odong Latek, a relative to a fallen FRONASA fighter, said he has heard about the cooperative but he is not part of it.
“Those who formed the cooperative are camouflaging that they are the true relatives of the fallen fighters yet in the actual sense it’s not true. The entity’s operation should be subject to verification,” he said.
But Agnes Okowange, who is a member of the cooperative, said all was well until they started receiving funding from President Museveni. She said the executive members shared the money among themselves thus crippling the activities of the cooperative.
“Executive members have remained silent on the matter; no meetings are being called to give updates to members on what is happening. The members’ savings could have been tampered with,” she said.
Suzan Akany, the resident district commissioner (RDC), said FRONASA members must remain united if they want more support from the president.
“Counter accusations swirl among themselves. Several reconciliatory meetings have been held but nothing has materialized,” she told theCooperator.
Unless they put their grievances aside, they won’t achieve much, she added.
Bernard Okumu, the commercial officer of Omoro District, said there are a lot of issues dogging the cooperative and the district has tried but failed to unite the members.
Billy Graham Olanya, the chairman couldn’t be reached for a comment.
In 2018, the cooperative received Shs 300 million and a milling machine worth about Shs 200 million from the office of the president.
In 2020, some FRONASA members in Amuru District also received a tractor to enable them in land opening to boost agriculture at household level.
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