Most Emyooga SACCOs in Arua fail to get extra cash

ARUA-More than half of the SACCOs in Arua district under Emyooga programme were unable to receive extra funding in the second phase of funding due to poor performance, according to district officials.

Records show each of the 18 Emyooga SACCOs received Shs 30 million in the first phase of funding in the financial year 2021/2022 and were all expected to receive an extra Shs 20mln in phase two if they performed well.

However, the second phase of Emyooga funding, according to John Ezuma, the commercial officer Arua district, saw only eight SACCOs qualify to receive extra Shs 20mln disbursed in the current financial year 2022/2023.

“It is unfortunate that most of the Emyooga SACCO groups associated the funding with the 2021 presidential election and misused the money received. This is likely the reason why the recovery of the funds for phase one has been a big problem,” Ezuma noted.

He said most of the SACCO groups have disintegrated while the remaining groups have failed to give the district monthly reports as required by the programme guideline.

Ezuma added: “We as leaders need to guide the SACCOs in enterprise selection. Choosing non-profit ventures is the likely cause for many government programmes failing.”

Most of the Emyooga SACCO groups in Arua this reporter spoke to, cited lack of commitment among the members as the reason for the poor performance, though some members claimed some of their leaders are corrupt.

Ronald Kabagambe, chairman of Vurra Constituency Boda Boda SACCO, claimed that their business was affected by Covid-19 induced lockdown which made the repayment of the group’s loans difficult.

“We are still hopeful that we will recover money disbursed under phase one. It’s unfortunate that we have missed phase two of Emyooga funding, but this does not stop us from getting organised,” Kabagambe noted.

Vurra Constituency Women Enterprise was chosen as the best performing Emyooga SACCO group in Arua. Out of the Shs 30 million they received from government in the financial year 2021/2022,  they added on Shs 7mln before distributing the money among the 28 associations under the SACCO.

Patrick Onzima, the chairman Vurra Constituency Women Enterprise, said they have recovered almost all the money they had lent to the association members during Enyooga phase one.

“We regularly carry out supervision for the association projects and guide each other in enterprise selection. There is team spirit among the more than 1,000 members. That is why we have been able to grow the seed capital to Shs 70mln. We thank the government of Uganda for Emyooga initiative,” Onzima said.

Arua district disbursed close to Shs 560mln to SACCO groups under Emyooga phase one in the financial year 2021/2022, but in the second phase of the programme, less than Shs 160mln was given due to poor performance of the SACCOs.

Emyooga is a presidential initiative on wealth and job creation launched in August 2019 as part of the broad government strategy targeting to transform 68 percent of homesteads from subsistence to market-oriented production.

The programme’s overall objective is to promote job creation and improving household incomes. The initiative is centred on various 18 enterprises covering majority of the hitherto, financially excluded Ugandans engaged in similar specialised enterprise categories.

https://thecooperator.news/fort-portal-city-emyooga-saccos-to-receive-more-seed-capital/

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