Gulu leaders top list of Emyooga defaulters
They have failed to repay a total of 45 million shillings loan they got in 2021.
By Christopher Nyeko
Gulu: Political leaders in Gulu district have come under the spotlight for defaulting on Emyooga funds and as such failing to lead by example.
Emyooga is the Presidential Initiative on Job and Wealth Creation intended to support 18 categories of associations namely; boda boda riders, welders, taxi operators, fishermen, veterans, performing artists, and elected leaders, among others.
Under their SACCO, Gulu District Political Leaders’ Emyooga SACCO the political leaders have failed to repay a total of 45 million shillings loan they got in 2021.
The Emyooga SACCO has three groups, which include Paicho, Patiko, and Gulu district leaders’s groups. The group combined all the political leaders from the lower local government to district leaders including councilors and LC5 chairperson respectively.
Kitara Patrick, the Gulu district Emyooga focal point person, told this publication that the political leaders have since defaulted on repaying their loans as reflected in their bank accounts.
Meanwhile, members of the other SACCOs, such as carpenters, performing artists, market vendors, welders, tailors, and others, say they have become relaxed about repaying their loans due to negative influences and bad examples displayed to them by political leaders.
It was alleged that a section of political leaders in the community are de-campaigning the programs by encouraging individuals not to repay the loan, claiming it was a presidential token during the 2021 presidential campaign.
In February 2021, Gulu district received a total of 560 million shillings from the Ministry of Finance through the microfinance support center, while an additional grant of 40 million was disbursed to the district on December 20, 2023, bringing the total to 600 million shillings received by the district.
Of the 600 million shillings, the district disbursed a total of 489.58 million to 59 associations under 18 SACCOs, with a total of 1,132 individual beneficiaries.
The district has reportedly recovered a total of 215 million shillings from compliance-related individuals.
Abwola David, the secretary for Gulu district political leader SACCO, however, disputed the reports that the leaders have defaulted, clarifying that members are repaying the loans to their respective groups.
Reports from the commercial department of Gulu reveal the worst-performing SACCO as boda-boda, which received 30 million shillings but has repaid only 800,000 shillings; produce dealers received 40 million and repaid 950,000 shillings; market vendors received 28.600 million but have repaid less than 5 million.
Meanwhile, PWD SACCO received 29 million but has also repaid less than 5 million shillings.
However, the best performing SACCOs are veterans who received 46.500 million and repaid 15 million; fishermen who received 45.500 million and repaid over 20 million; restaurant owners who received 44 million shillings and repaid 30 million; performing artists who received 38.300 million but repaid 20 million; and youth SACCOs who received 32.117 million but repaid 22 million shillings.
Kitara threatened that the individual loan defaulters would be handled case by case so they would repay the loan.
Akello Alice, the resident district commissioner of Gulu, gifted yellow t-shirts to the best-performing individuals from nine SACCOs who are fairly performing in repaying their Emyooga loan on Wednesday.
The awarded individuals were picked from veteran SACCO, performing artist SACCO, tailoring, restaurant owner, mechanic, fishermen, women entrepreneurs, journalists, and youth leaders SACCO, respectively.
Akello, however, encourages individuals who have not yet repaid their loans to work hard and clear the arrears.
Emyooga was launched in August 2019 as part of the broad government strategy targeting to transform 68% of homesteads from subsistence to market-oriented production with the overall objective of promoting job creation and improving household incomes.
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