Construction of Mbarara’s Shs 20bn new market is completed after more than 5 years

MBARARA – Mbarara Central Market that had stalled for about five years since 2018 has been completed. The contractor, Roko Construction Company officially handed it over to the City Council.

The new market was officially handed over in a function that was presided over by Ettedu JJ Geoffrey, Assistant Commissioner Ministry of Local Government who warned leaders that the market is for vendors and not Mbarara politicians or civic servants.

“Please political leaders and civil servants of the city, let’s not become vendors because the new market facility is for vendors and not anybody who intends to make an attempt at business,” Ettedu said.

Ettedu said the ministry together with the city leadership are harmonizing the registers to ensure a smooth reallocation of vendors without causing any conflict.

“Before registration, we had asked the Municipal Council to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with each of the vendors; that is the basis we want to use to confirm the original vendors,” he explained.

The Assistant Commissioner said the resettlement duty will then be conducted by the constituted allocation committee.

“The allocation committee of vendors is constituted by heads of each section in the market, where the City Town Clerk conducted an election. The results of the election were then forwarded to us and discussed by a team from the Ministry in a meeting chaired by the Commissioner of Urban Administration,” said Ettedu.

Arthur Abirebe, the new City Town Clerk also confirmed that the new city market will be occupied by the vendors and not politicians and civil servants because they can afford to pay rent.

“If you know someone was a vendor in the old market, don’t maliciously block him/her from operating in the new facility. We appeal to the public to do this verification exercise objectively because this is a new market. It should not appear like some people are being victimized,” Abirebe emphasized.

The City Clerk also appealed to vendors to comply with the levies charged for the city to maintain the new face of the modern market structure.

“As officials of this city, we shall levy taxes on vendors to ensure that we maintain this market in good condition. So, when we call upon you to pay your taxes, please cooperate and do it with passion to that we are able to maintain its good ambiance,” he said.

Abirebe also encouraged the contractor to sort out all the defects within the given liability period as per the contract.

“Every function has to work properly including the day care centre that had an oversight. It must be corrected within the given 12 months period.”

The City Mayor, Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi expressed happiness at the achievement recorded during his 2nd term in office, and thanked the contractor and the ministry for delivering the first modern market in Mbarara.

“If there is anybody that is extremely happy, I am the one. The day has finally come, when I as the Mayor, will relocate the vendors to their original market where I had shifted them and I am sure the people of Mbarara will enjoy the beauty of the market,” Kakyebezi said.

However, Nyombi Muhammad, the Chairperson Mbarara Central Market Association advised the city leadership not to rush to allocate the vendors.

“We have spent about five years waiting for the completion of this market so we should not be pressured to occupy the stalls. Let’s take our time and prepare systematically to transit well to our new market space,” Muhammad said.

He also appealed to the city leadership to provide technocrats who should run some of the technological systems within the ministry.

“They installed some equipment such as ICTV cameras, which vendors cannot operate. We request that through council, technical people should be employed to run such services,” said Muhammad.

Mbarara Central Market was contracted to Roko Construction Company in February 2018 at a contract sum of more than Shs 20bn and was supposed to be handed over on 9th October, 2020.

The regional market located along Buremba road is among the presidential initiatives under the Markets and Agriculture Trade Improvement Project (MATIP) funded by USD 84.2M (about 284b) loan sourced from the African Development Bank (ADB) and USD 9.52M (about 32b) contributed by the government to alleviate poverty and improvement of agricultural trade.

The 485-lockup facility will accommodate about 1000 vendors selling food stuffs, salons, restaurants, day care, banks among others.

Several other central and auxiliary markets have been constructed in Busia, Masaka, Kasese, Arua, Soroti, Moroto, Tororo, Kitgum and Lugazi.

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Value added pumpkins boost Gulu Farmers savings

GULU – A local farmer group in Unyama sub-county, Gulu district is adding value to pumpkins in a bid to cut out the middle man and earn more money from the fruit.

Opar pi wa Farmers Group located in Loyo-boo village, Unyama sub-county, Gulu district is mainly composed of elderly women and a few men who started adding value to pumpkins during the lockdown in 2021.

Ocaya Latigo, the group’s Chairperson said, “At that time, we had a lot of pumpkins yet weekly markets where we used to sell our products were closed. So, members sat down and decided that we should start processing the pumpkin into flour for porridge and also roasting the seeds for sale as a group. I started this as an individual before other members bought the idea.”

The group adds bananas, maize, soy bean, pumpkin seeds to the pumpkins to make a nutritious yellow porridge flour.

Latigo told theCooperator that raw pumpkins fetch low prices compared to the pumpkin flour.

“Middle men buy raw pumpkins from us at a maximum of Shs 3,000 for a big fruit and resell expensively at markets in the city but they are able to earn Shs 8,000 per kilogram of pumpkin flour,” Latigo said.

Adding value to the pumpkin is the group’s first enterprising activity. On individual basis, they grow indigenous vegetables like egg plants, cow peas and night shade among others.

Akongo Santa, the group’s treasurer says, their first earning from the venture was Shs 120,000 from 10kgs of pumpkin flour.

Akongo said, they hope to earn more from pumpkin flour when they improve production and also access more markets.

Opar pi wa is currently capitalizing on local events like farmer field schools where they exhibit their product.

However, Magdalene Ocwee, a group member says the government should support them with ox-ploughs to ease opening of land and increase production.

“We are unable to grow on a larger scale because we are old and rely on hand hoes. We would wish for the government to support us with oxen so that we can grow pumpkins on large scale and earn more money,” Ocwee said.

In 2021, they grew a half an acre of pumpkins but plan to increase to three acres in 2022.

Challenges

The group’s other needs are a pumpkin slicing machine to reduce slicing time and a solar drier to avoid challenges that come with lack of sunshine during the rainy season.

“Our pumpkins take two days to properly dry under the hot sunshine during the dry season, we don’t know how many days it will take during the rainy season and the effect it could have on the pumpkins,” Latigo said.

He added that they are producing pumpkin flour in small quantities because the grater is slow. In a day, we can only grate two pumpkins yet we could do more if we had a slicing machine.

Opar pi war farmer group is one of several groups supported by Gulu Women Economic Development and Globalization (GWEDG), a Non-Governmental Organization under the Promoting Women Land Rights and Local Seed Bank project.

The 18 months project that ends in December 2022 aims to change the food production and consumption patterns through training and raising awareness about indigenous seeds and crops.

The National Planning Authority in its 2013 report titled, “Scaling Up Value Addition in Agricultural Products” noted that weak value chains have failed to provide incentives to farmers to adapt, improved technologies and pursue more commercial agriculture.

The report further noted that smallholder farmers in particular need to be able to benefit from local-level value addition and be exposed to competition.

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Women Boda-boda riders ask government for support to buy own motorcycles

FORT PORTAL – Women boda-boda riders under their umbrella association Fort Portal Women Boda-Boda Riders and Farmers Association have asked the government for support to buy their own motorcycles.

The association’s Chairperson Margret Asiimwe said women have embraced boda-boda business but are constrained by funds to buy their own motorcycles.

Asiimwe said most of these women are single mothers who are trying hard to put food on the table and pay school fees for their children.

“Most of us in this business are single mothers and we are trying our best to ensure that our children survive. I have been in this business for close to 17 years though I haven’t managed to buy my own motorcycle because I have a lot of demands,” she said.

Asiimwe further said, they are 20 members and they were all taught by their fellow women and are still teaching more how to ride a motorcycle.

However, she noted that most of these women don’t ride their own motorcycles but rather hire them and pay daily to the owners.

“We want more women in the business despite the challenges we face. Every job or business has its own challenges, but we try to solve what we can,” she said.

She also said, many boda-boda riders have lost their lives and others lost their motorcycles which are the most challenges affecting their operations.

Sarah Namara, one of the women boda-boda riders said, the business is dominated by men but they were forced to join so that they can make ends meet.

“Having something to do has helped some of us to reduce domestic violence because we are also improving our family’s income. Most of the domestic cases are as a result of poverty in our homes,” said Asiimwe.

She said they are planning on having their own stage in the middle of the city centre to attract more clients as they recruit more women boda-boda riders.

Launching a protection app

Under their association, they have started up a protection app known as WOBODA that will act as their protection tool while doing their business.

The app is meant to protect women boda-boda riders where each will have it on a phone connected to an office computer so that before setting off from the stage it’s updated on the places one is going to, customer taken and mode of payment.

She said the app will consist of one’s profile, places, orders and payments.

“Boda-boda riders face a lot of challenges where many have lost lives yet as women, we are not in position to defend ourselves but we hope this app will help us to trace everyone’s movements thus increasing protection” she said.

She added that the app will also be used to market their produces since most of them practice farming too, especially those who hire motorcycles to earn a side income.

The Fort Portal Woman Member of Parliament Hon. Irene Linda Mugisa appealed to women boda-boda riders not to miss on the Parish Development Model scheme since women are to benefit from over 60% of the funds.

Hon. Linda said, the Parish Development Model is targeting women more than any other category of people and therefore its high time they embraced it.

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Mbarara City to host the National Meteorological Day, focusing on farming seasons

MBARARA – Uganda will today join the rest of the world to celebrate the World Meteorological Day.

According to Lillian Nkwenge, the Principal Communications Officer (PCO) at Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA), this time round the national celebrations under the theme “Early Warning, Early Action” will be held from Mbarara City at the Mayor’s garden.

“We are celebrating the annual day when United Nations (UN) meteorological organization came into force since 1959 up to date,” Nkwenge said.

She further said the celebrations will enable farmers to determine the best cropping season as per the weather focus.

“People should come expecting the seasonal focus for the farmers. Let the farmers come and see what the season has for them, what type of crops they are supposed to grow this time to get better yields and much production because it looks like the season is going to be a bit short,” Nkwenge explained.

She added that during the event, people will get to know the causes and effects of global warming.

“People should come and know why there is global warming in our country, even here in Mbarara. Why are temperatures so high? What does UNMA have in place for early warnings? How will the public act with the information we shall deliver?” says Nkwenge

Abubakar Kalema, a weather analyst says, this year’s rain season was affected by the tropical cycles in the Indian Ocean.

“On 23rd February, 2022, we issued a seasonal forecast for the entire country, and Mbarara and nearby places were supposed to experience rains by late February to early March but we got into the dry spell (consecutive days with no rains0. This was brought about by the tropical cycles in the Indian Ocean because, whenever they formulate in the Indian Ocean, it becomes hard to predict and that is the system that interrupted our seasonal rains,” Kalema explained.

He however anticipates a lot of rains in Western Uganda encouraging farmers to prepare for the heavy downpour.

“The forecast we gave is still on spot and farmers are soon getting their rains but for this area, we expect a rise above the normal rains which means a lot of rainfall that will be good enough for agriculture activities,” Kalema said.

He also explained that currently, the temperatures are high because of energy building in the sky.

“You realize that there are always hot temperatures because high temperatures during the dry season build up energy in the atmosphere. It is a general characteristic and we will always experience it when we are entering into a rainfall season.”

Godwin Ayesiga, from the Department of Meteorology also analyzed that by the start of the year, Uganda got a taste of high temperatures as a result of climate change.

“Normally from December-March, we tend to have a dry season which comes with strong sunshine and of course the atmosphere tends to respond by exhibiting higher temperatures. But generally, we also know that we have climate change which is not only in Uganda but the entire globe,” Ayesiga emphasized.

‘Last year, we did a study to try and understand the overall situation in terms of temperatures and we found out that generally the whole country is warm,” he adds.

“Now we are doing another study to follow up to find out the actual factors that have attributed to the high temperature that is currently being experienced,” Ayesiga said.

Mayor Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi appealed to the people of Mbarara to turn up in big numbers on Wednesday 23rd, 2022 to expound more about climate change which is a global issue.

“I think Mbarara becomes relevant on issues of climate and a weather forecast since this region is arguably the food basket. There is no way we can survive when the weather is tampered with,” Kakyebezi said.

“You find when farmers don’t know the rainy season- which is the planting season. So, I call upon the general public to come because weather and climate touch each and every aspect of our lives,” he added.

Meteorological day celebrations in Mbarara will be presided over by the State Minister for Environment who will also commission a weather redder that covers a radius of over 500kms and it cost the authority a tune of about Shs 12bn to help to detect any severe weather issues that could arise in the country.

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Vendors seeking government support after Elegu market fire outbreak

AMURU – Victims of last month’s fire outbreak at Elegu Border Market that saw items worth more than Shs3 billion destroyed have appealed for government support to help their businesses recover from their tragic loss.

The vendors have petitioned government authorities through their district leadership to support them logistically and financially since they are already struggling to cope with the impact of the disaster.

A total of 3000 vendors and traders out of the 17,000 who operate at the Elegu Border Market lost their items in the 21st February fire outbreak.

Margaret Auma, the Chairperson of the Elegu Women Cross-Border Vendors Association says, a number of vendors are struggling to feed themselves and even provide temporary shelter with others forced to share accommodation with friends.

Auma says, they want the government to provide them with relief support including food and shelter, and some financial support for their business to recover from the loss.

“We have businesses like lodges, groceries, agricultural produce, fresh and dried among others that have all been destroyed. Traders and vendors want to get back to business and some don’t even have where to sleep or what to eat. Our appeal to the government is to come to our aid since it’s not our desire that our items were destroyed by fire,” Auma said.

Salim Sadat, a vendor who lost his merchandise shop to the fire outbreak says, he lost items worth Shs 5.7 million and he only saved Shs1 million which he is now using to support his family during this hard time.

Michael Lakony, the LCV Chairperson Amuru district says, they have already contacted the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and Minister for East African Affairs, Rebecca Kadaga on the request and need for support for the Elegu fire victims.

Lakony says, the district is currently collecting the data of the affected people before submitting it to Kampala for government intervention.

“We are currently collecting the data of the vendors affected by the fire outbreak, after which we will send the list to Kampala. We are already in contact with Minister Rebecca Kadaga and the Office of the Prime Minister so that the victims of the fire outbreak are supported,” Lakony says.

“The problem we are already foreseeing especially with the Office of the Prime Minister is lack of funds which they have already expressed,” Lakony adds.

Police have attributed the fire outbreak to negligence of vendors saying, the cause of fire was due to a fire that was left by a vendor who had cooked at the market and did not put it out.

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Kole North MP Acuti donates three ambulances worth Shs 300m

KOLE – Kole North MP, Dr Samuel Opio Acuti has donated three ambulances worth Shs 300m to ease referrals, transportation of patients, emergency cases and access to maternal services to expectant mothers.

This was after 2021 statistics indicated that 247 lost their lives out of which, 100 were from causes that could have been prevented such as accident victims, pregnant mothers, severe malaria and food poisoning.

“These factors drove me to strengthen these emergency services as a mechanism to minimize these preventable deaths,” he says.

Kole had only one ambulance offered by the Ministry of Health besides the one offered by the district Woman MP, Judith Alyek and Kole South MP, Peter Ocen. This means the district now has five ambulances to help in emergency cases.

The district carved out of Apac ten years ago and has 171 health workers serving a population of more than 240,000. It has 10 public health facilities which include Aboke, Bala, Alito, Ayer, Okwerodot, Opeta, Bung among others.

Handing over the ambulances to communities at Aboke sub-county, MP Acuti said the emergency trucks will each be stationed at Okwerodot, Aboke and Alito sub-counties.

He said the donation was also in fulfillment of his campaign manifesto after realizing challenges facing the health services sector like timely referrals.

“It’s the first of its kind for an MP to donate 3 ambulances in Uganda and this has excited communities,” says Dr Acuti who has a Masters of Science Degree in Pharmacology.

The Aboke LC3 Chairperson Cana Bonney welcomed the development and advised people who will be tasked with the responsibility of managing not to consider anyone’s political affiliation.

He hinted that there is a shortage of staff accommodation in most of the health facilities in the area and understaffing which many times hampers service delivery.

While responding to Cana’s concern, Dr Acuti says, he was lobbying for the upgrading of Aboke Health Unit to a district hospital.

“We are looking at accessibility because the stretch to the end of my constituency is 30km and my target was that there should be an ambulance at the radius of 10km,” he says.

He said it was a joint partnership between the community, local leadership and his office to address these health challenges.

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Ayugi-Pugwang Cooperative Society demand UPDF to vacate their land

AMURU – Members of the Ayugi-Pugwang Cooperative Society Limited in Pabo sub-county and Town Council in Amuru district are demanding Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) to vacate their land.

The land measuring 500 acres was reportedly given to the government through Ministry of Agriculture in a joint venture deal in 1984 in exchange for a tractor to tilt land belonging to members of Ayugi-Pugwang cooperative society.

Sabino Ochan, the Secretary of Ayugi-Pugwang Cooperative Society Limited says, their joint venture deal with the government was interrupted when President Idi Amin took over power, changing the name and ownership of the land to a state farm.

Ochan says, several efforts by members of the cooperative to take back the land for use has been futile as the UPDF continue to use the land.

“The cooperative society has since the joint venture deal never benefited from using the land, which was only given to the government in a partnership to support the cooperative. Today, our efforts to take charge and use our land has never yielded any fruits,” Ochan says.

According to Ochan, while addressing the State Minister for Defence and Veteran Affairs, Jacob Oboth Oboth at the Pabo Town Council Hall, there have been many people including UPDF Officers trying to illegally survey and document the land on which the “state farm” sits.

“Many people have been coming here trying to survey the land in question, with some claiming to have come from the State house and others from the UPDF, for us as the society and the community, we want this issue to first be settled before any agricultural or documentational activities takes place. This is the stand of the people,” Ochan asserts.

In 2012, angry members of the cooperative society and community members uprooted and destroyed markstones planted by one, Lt Col Francis Obwona, who had served as the farm manager during the insurgency.

Angello Ouma, one of the former tractor drivers at the farm during the joint venture days, says the illegal government takeover of the land has crippled their efforts to fight poverty, which was the major vision of the cooperative society.

Ouma says, even when discussions are ongoing to have the cooperative society repossess the land, some of them who devoted their lives and provided services need to be compensated.

Jacob Oboth Oboth, the Minister of State for Defense and Veteran Affairs while responding to the demand of the community members suspended any documentation of land activities on the land in question until the matter has fully been resolved.

Oboth says further engagements with the cultural institution, and members of the cooperative society as they explore all the other options to see that both the government and landowners benefit.

Lucy Akello, the Amuru district Woman Member of Parliament is however worried that this process might take too long which has been the case with most of the people who have tried to handle the issue before.

Akello says, many people have labelled the Acholi people as violent especially on matters related to land ownership and disputes, which is untrue.

“The more time we take to handle simple issue, the more it agitates the affected people and this is where people begin to boil because their livelihoods are being affected, that’s why most times we see the Acholi people tend to get violent,” Akello explains.

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Ministry of work launches investigations into increased road accidents in Bunyoro

KIKUUBE – Ministry of Works and Police have launched an investigation into the increasing accidents on oil roads in Bunyoro region.

A team from Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), the Director of Traffic in Uganda Police, Ministry of Works and Kikuube district local government officials led by the Kikuube Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Amlan Tumusiime held a meeting after inspecting Hoima Sugar Company over the matter.

Edward Kizito, the Safety Officer in the Ministry of Works who represented Minister of State for Works Fred Byamukama said the investigations follow numerous complaints about the increasing accidents by errant truck drivers of the sugar companies and contractors of different roads in the region.

The investigation according to Kizito was ordered by President Museveni following complaints of increased accidents in the region that was reported to him recently as he was commissioning 346 km oil roads in the Bunyoro region.

Kizito noted that their investigation pointed out that the drivers of the sugarcane company and that of the road contractors were not following road safety and health guidelines.

He also attributed the increasing accidents to reckless driving, employing unqualified drivers and having vehicles on the road which are in dangerous mechanical conditions.

He noted that as Ministry, since they had identified some of the causes of the accidents, they were going to formulate measures to ensure that they fight against the road carnage in the region.

Lawrence Niwabine, Director of Traffic at Uganda Police said, between the year 2018 to 2021, 85 tracks on road construction and sugar companies got involved in accidents and killed many people.

He noted all these cases have never appeared in court and ordered police bosses in the region to see that these cases get settled for justice to prevail.

He further noted that if the file cases are not settled, someone will come out and take police to court and this will not be good on the side of the police as an institution.

He also said, there is a need to put in place a mechanism to reduce the road carnage in the region and ordered the police to take keen interest and arrest all contractors who do not follow health and safety guidelines.

The Kikuube RDC, Amlan Tumusiime called on Hoima Sugar Company, road construction companies and other companies operating in the region to adhere to traffic rules and regulations to ensure road safety. He noted that though they need these companies for development and creation of employment in the region, there is a need to protect the lives of the people.

The district woman MP Florence Natumanya said the investigation has come at the right time when several innocent people are losing lives in road accidents.

She noted that they have engaged the Hoima sugar factory management several times and the road contractors to follow traffic rules but they have failed to adhere adding that there is a need to have stringent measures to make them understand.

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Alebtong gets two new health units

ALEBTONG – The construction and upgrading of two health units in Alebtong district to improve access to health services delivery in the district has been completed and now awaits handover.

The health facilities upgraded from health center II to III status include Angetta and Awei according to the local leadership.

Four years ago, the government earmarked Shs 1.8b to upgrade three health units in the district in the first phase of an intergovernmental fiscal transfer program funded by the World Bank.

But according to Bonney Ocen, the Chairperson Works and Technical Services of Alebtong, Anara health unit which was among the construction projects to be completed is not convincing the district leadership.

“The construction of Angetta and Awei are complete but for Anara, we are not satisfied with the work and we want the contractor to come back on the site and correct some areas,” Ocen says.

For Angetta and Awei, Wangi Gen Company Ltd was undertaking the work and Anara was awarded to Power and Bay Company Ltd.

The scope of the work was construction of general ward, improvement of out-patient department, putting in two twin houses, construction of VIP latrine, placenta pit and medical waste.

The district Secretary for Education and Health, Jamila Kasim says the construction of another two health units which include Abia and Akura are ongoing in this second phase of the projects.

“Anara is almost complete and is due for handover but during our monitoring and supervision, we identified some defects which need to be corrected before we receive it,” she said.

Kasim says the five sub-counties didn’t have health center III as required by the government and the Ministry of Health.

She says, by establishing and uplifting the facilities, delivery will be conducted, an increased number of health workers, services shall improve and immunization will be conducted.

There has been a delay in the completion of the three health units since 2019 after Otada Construction Company Ltd encountered financial challenges and they abandoned the sites.

Since there was an urgent need for health services because of the high population, the government gave the district a blessing to source for a new firm to finish the work.

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The 3rd cooperative strategic research on resilience launched, cooperators advised on mindset change

KAMPALA – The Uhuru Institute for Social Development (TUI) recorded another milestone after successfully launching the third strategic research report on cooperative resilience.

The research conducted in 2020 titled “Upholding Cooperative Identity as a Crucial Determinant of Cooperative Resilience in Uganda” was officially launched on Tuesday, 15th March,2022 at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala.

According to Leonard Okello, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), TUI was registered in 2013 to look for ways to work with Ugandans on how to generate wealth as a team.

“It was a dream on how best we can generate wealth together and beyond the capacity of self-reliance, self-help and working together. So, we started this journey in 2013,” Okello said.

He further said, the first research report in 2013 introduced the institution to understand how much Ugandans needed the cooperative movement to get revamped.

“We went around the country to confirm a report we had released in 2013 of which 98% of the people we met were yearning to get viable cooperatives once more. And because of that, we continued to do some research and released it in 2018 which provided a thinking about the status of cooperatives in Uganda and then the study which we are launching now,” Okello explained.

He also said, the cooperative resilience research report has measured the impact the cooperatives have on the country and improvement on the cooperative movement in Uganda.

“Now that we are done with research on cooperative resilience, we are set to launch technology intended to track the performance of cooperatives in Uganda. We will avail you with a software called Coop Profiler which shall be used to get these measurements,” says Okello.

In his remarks, Eng Danstan Kisuule, the Board Chair of TUI appealed to the cooperatives to get good use of the data captured in the research book.

“Fellow cooperators I urge all of you, and especially the Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives(MAAIF) to take the findings of this study very seriously in guiding our wealth creation agenda of our beloved country,” Kisuule emphasized.

Through this research, Kisuule says it should be in position to change the mindset goals of cooperators in Uganda.

“We must address the mind-set change as our top priority, if these thousands of cooperatives should create wealth in this country. Most of these collapsing cooperatives are as a result of the wrong mind-set of the members who only form them to attract external money from NGOs, donors, politicians, and especially the government of Uganda. But this research is one in a series of many others already completed and yet to come that address the mind-set of Ugandans towards building a truly purpose driven cooperative movement,” Kisuule explained.

Jane Amuge Okello, the Principal Investigator says, findings from the research indicate that cooperators’ powers are usurped by the managers due to lack of awareness.

“We have noticed that members are in chains and some managers have taken over the business of the cooperatives where they think that without the manager, there is no business for the cooperative,” Amuge said.

Hon Frederick Ngobi Gume, the State Minister for Cooperatives welcomed the well-researched report conducted on cooperatives saying that it will be purposeful to his ministry.

“I am extremely happy to be here, first of all the research is going to help me in my office and my officers to equally analyze the resilience and be able to measure how predictable the cooperatives are,” Ngobi said.

“I take Uhuru to be an eye opener yet some people think there is a conflict of interest. But you cannot always be sending off somebody who is giving you a pointer that there is a problem. It would be silly for me to sit in my office and say the priorities don’t allow me to go and inaugurate this report because I am going to use it, instead we should be partners,” he added.

The State Minister further agreed with the research findings saying, most cooperators have given up their roles to the management which could see many collapsing.

“It is touching to see a cooperative meeting once in a year and assigning its responsibilities to the Board but also the Board is surrendering their responsibilities to the manager and the managers now seem to be walking with the whole cooperative in their briefcases which is dangerous in the cooperative movement,” Ngobi explained.

However, he challenged Uhuru to also tackle the issue of strategic planning in the cooperative movement where most cooperators money is unaccounted.

“I would also like to inform you in your report that the cooperators have strategic plans and they have work plans but there is a problem. Once the work plan is approved follow it too, because now you are listening to the real cooperators on the ground instead of just opening their work plans in a book,” the Minister said.

“Like an incident happened last month, when conmen realized that the government was releasing compensation money, they went and designed a telephone contact similar to that of the ministry and rang the manager and chairman of the board to send Shs 2m to process visa fees and passport to go to South Africa and he did within five minutes. Now was this money budgeted for in their work plan? Do you think in your survey you would find the budget of a cooperative that the chairperson of the union or society shall be going to South Africa? Ngobi severally asked.

https://thecooperator.news/nebbi-district-to-host-west-nile-investment-summit-in-march-19-2022/

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