Govt to hire offices for Emyooga SACCOs
HOIMA – The State Minister for Microfinance, Haruna Kyeyune Kasolo has said government plans to hire offices for the Emyooga SACCOs across the country in a bid to ease monitoring of the programme.
Minister Kasolo who is currently traversing Bunyoro Sub-region to evaluate the programme made the remarks on Wednesday evening while meeting leaders of beneficiary groups in Bugahya Constituency in Hoima district.
Minister Kasolo disclosed the government’s plan after leaders of Emyooga SACCOs said they have no money to hire offices or transport to follow up members who have defaulted on their loans.
He noted that the offices to be located in respective constituencies would be equipped with different furniture and ICT items like computers for data storage.
The minister said all the 18 Emyooga SACCOs in each constituency will converge in one office and was optimistic that SACCOs performing poorly will learn from those performing well.
He added offices would ease the monitoring of the SACCOs. Currently, he said, it is very hard to monitor the SACCOs because they have no addresses.
According to officials, Emyooga SACCOs in Hoima district are relatively performing well compared to other districts in Bunyoro Sub-region.
They said Bugahya Constituency is performing better than Kigorobya Constituency, which has so far recovered over Shs 138 million while Bugahya Constituency has recovered over shs 200mln.
Emmanuel Twinomujuni the Microfinance Support Centre Hoima Zonal Office manager, said Hoima district was given a seed capital of Shs 1.1 billion and so far Shs 1.5bln revolving fund has been disbursed to 36 Emyooga SACCOs in Bunyoro Sub-region.
Abdul Bisaso the deputy national coordinator Emyooga Programme underscored the need to sensitise the beneficiaries so that they understand the importance of saving.
He noted that saving is an important aspect of development, adding that it helps one to save for future investments.
The State Minister for Public Service Grace Mary Mugasa said hiring offices for the Emyooga SACCOs was long overdue, adding that operating without offices has resulted in the Mismanagement of funds by the leaders.
“These SACCOs are not monitored because most of them operate as briefcase offices. I have hope that if government implements this idea of hiring offices for SACCOs, monitoring will be easily done and the misuse of the money will be minimised,” she said.
https://thecooperator.news/kikuube-emyooga-funds-defaulters-face-arrest/
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