RUBIRIZI – The Minister of State for Microfinance Haruna Kyeyune Kasolo has said there is proper legal framework to regulate the management of Saccos in Uganda.
Kasolo who was responding to a section of local leaders in Bunyaruguru County in Rubirizi Township where he was monitoring the performance of Saccos under Emyooga program in the area said the law in place is enough to regulate the poverty alleviation scheme.
The leaders were suggesting that there is a need to put in place a specific law that would enable Emyooga defaulters to be punished.
“There is no need to bring another law. The laws we have are clear and we can arrest you if you steal Sacco money. We cannot just put in place a law for Emyooga because we have the financial institutions Act,” Kasolo, who was monitoring the performance of Saccos under Emyooga program in the area, said.
In his monitoring, the minister discovered that Saccos of produce dealers, carpenters and performing artists in Bunyaruguru did well prompting him to ask why other Saccos, in the constituency that is known for growing tea, had not done well.
He said they cannot use the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse for not performing well since it affected everybody.
Kasolo tasked the Rubirizi district Emyooga beneficiaries to up their game whilst concluding a one day tour of the district.
“You haven’t performed well but it is not too late. You can still make a comeback. Emyooga money is not for eating. You know it is a revolving fund,” he said.
In his remarks, John Twesigye, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bunyaruguru County asked for his constituents to be trained more about Emyooga program.
Twesigye told the Minister that his people misunderstood the program for a token from the government for having voted for NRM.
“They need more training on how this works. We have some problems because people did not understand it very well.”
According to Twesigye, if Emyooga is implemented well, chances are high that the soon-to-be-implemented Parish Development Model (PDM) will pan out well.
Abdul Bisaso, the deputy national coordinator Youth Action for Social Political and Economic Development, shortened as YASPED, also shared the importance of the monitoring exercise the minister is currently taking.
He told the beneficiaries of Bunyaruguru County that the intention of the monitoring exercise is to ensure that everything that is not going right is straightened.
“We are looking at the performance, so far, and how we can get back to the basics of Emyooga. We are not here to arrest you, we are here to ensure that everything goes according to plan,”Bisaso said.
Performance report for Rubirizi district
Rubirizi district has two constituencies of Bunyaruguru and Katerera. It has 36 Emyooga SACCOs as per specialized categories and each constituency has 18 SACCOs
All the 36 Emyooga SACCOs were duly registered by Registrar of Co-operatives at the Ministry of trade
The 36 SACCOs are made of 469 established Parish level validated Association. 469 Associations are made up of 5,034 Individual members
The SACCOs received a seed capital of Ugx 1,120,000,000 on 8th December 2020 and members were able to raise Ugx 50,980,000 through membership fees.
To date, members have raised a share Capital of Ugx 102,060,900. They have also raised Ugx 134,676,971 through savings with a loan portfolio that stands at Ugx 1,096,882,604
