Emyooga beneficiaries in Arua storm out of meeting over delayed release of funds

Arua , Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT | Over 400 members of Emyooga groups in Arua City on Thursday stormed out of a meeting following delays to receive money. 

The meeting which was convened at the City Mayor’s Gardens turned rowdy after some of the groups including Boda Boda Associations accused the program officials of dragging the process and using their names to get money. 

The members who remained calm during the address by the Arua Resident District Commissioner Nahori Oya turned rowdy after they were told to elect their leaders who would be signatories to the accounts. However, more than three-quarters of the members went rowdy and rejected further conditions put on them saying it’s a ploy to use their names for personal benefits by the leaders.

Hamza Ham, the regional coordinator for Emyooga West Nile said the process of organizing the groups has dragged on because the first coordinator did not hail from West Nile and this made coordination for Emyooga difficult.   According to Ham, some of the beneficiaries have decided to politicize the programme. 

Joel Ayiko, the Commercial Officer Arua City pleaded with the group members saying they need to cooperate if the Emyooga programme is to have an impact in Arua City.

According to records from the Commercial Office, Arua City has over 2,700 group files for Emyooga with an estimated 560 Million Shillings to be released for each of the two divisions in Arua City. 

Emyooga is a Presidential initiative for fighting poverty and wealth creation through financial support to various enterprises to a tune of up to UGX 31 million per group. The City officials are yet to forge a way for the groups to fulfill requirements for the final release of funds for the kick-starting of the programme.

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