MASAKA– Authorities in Masaka city have warned youth and women that they will face the wrath of the law if they fail to repay Shs 585 million loan.
Both the youth and women groups received different amounts of loans under the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme and Youth Livelihood programme, respectively, to help them to engage in income-generating activities, but with the obligation to pay back the money borrowed.
Masaka city community development officer, Wilson Kizza said that in the financial years 2015-2016 and 2017-2018, the city gave out Shs 700mln in loans to both youth and women.
Kizza said 135 youth groups received Shs 400mln while 80 women groups got Shs 300mln but they have failed to pay back due to Covid-19 pandemic lockdown announced in the year 2020.
Kizza said youth and women dealing in different enterprises like poultry, piggery and stationary in the divisions of Nyendo-Mukungwe and Kimanya-Kabonera in Masaka city have failed to pay back claiming that their projects collapsed.
He said youth groups have only paid Shs 70millions remaining with a balance of Shs 330millions and women only paid back Shs 45million remaining with Shs 255m, which amounts to Shs 585mln unpaid money.
Ronald Muwonge, 22, a carpenter in Nyendo town said he is one of the members of a youth group that got a loan of Shs 6mln but when Covid-19 broke out, their project stalled and therefore could not pay back the money.
Muwonge said each member of their carpentry group was supposed to contribute Shs 5000 weekly towards the loan repayment but all their activities were suspended as government implemented Covid-19 prevention measures.
“Covid-19 came with a lot of restrictions on movement, life and work. I had challenges in finding what to eat and money to repay the loan since I was not working,” he said, adding that their project is hobbling after some of the members pulled out.
Rose Nakajubi, a retail shop attendant in Kiwangala trading centre in Kisekka Sub-county said people spent yet they were not earning during Covid-19 lockdown. “Whenever I tried to survive and make a living out of some work, I would be beaten up by security people.”
On the hand, Masaka Resident City Commissioner, Ronald Katende has asked the city officials to how finding ways of helping the youth and women to revive their limping projects so that they are able to repay the loans.
He said many people were affected by the Covid-19 lockdown as most of the economic activities could not operate fully in the years 2020 and 2021.
‘’I know some youth and women whose enterprises are limping. They should be guided on how they can regroup and benefit from Emyooga programme,’’ he advised.
However, the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa [OSSREA] has released the 2022 research report on the socio-economic impact of Covid-19 on youth and women in Uganda, indicating that the two groups greatly suffered during the Covid-19 lock-down where they could not do much to sustain their enterprises and therefore unable to pay back the money borrowed from government.
OSSREA Country Coordinator for Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, Jerome Ntege said many youth and women lacked any source of income during Covid-19 lockdown as they became vulnerable.
https://thecooperator.news/pay-your-loans-top-govt-officials-warn-ugandans/
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