The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The second deputy prime Minister, Ali Kirunda Kivejinja has asked Cooperative unions in the country to shelf their compensation demands for war time losses.
Cooperative Unions are demanding upto Shillings 162 Billion from government in compensation for wartime losses, restoration of the defunct Cooperative Bank as well as the legal regimes for their operations.
But Kivejinja says Uganda is still broke to settle the debts as she rises from the shadows of the post independence upheavals, which bedeviled the country.
He said the demands should be shelved to allow government attend to pressing infrastructure development required to propel the country into a better economic future.
Jonas Tweyambe, the chairperson of Uganda Cooperatives Alliance, the Apex body uniting all Cooperatives in Uganda, says they will proceed to send a delegation of Cooperative members to meet President Museveni to press government to expedite the compensation process.
“For us we can’t wait because the process is too slow. And we are asking him to remember us and ascend to the Cooperatives Amendment bill 2016 that has been passed by Parliament” he said.
Kivejinja remarks contradicts President Yoweri Museveni’s position on the state of the economy since his government ascended to power in 1986.
He says the economy has grown four folds in comparison to its state in 1986 and can now finance most of its infrastructural development without the support of donors.
General Moses Ali, the first Deputy Prime Minister says government has earmarked 40 Billion Shillings to facilitate the operations of cooperatives. He said Cooperatives will access the funds through banks.
Gen. Ali read president Yoweri Museveni’s speech at the commemoration of the International Cooperatives Day at Wakiso district headquarters. He said government is already paying the wartime debts without disclosing how much has been paid so far.
According to President Museveni, cooperatives should utilize free inputs distributed by Operation Wealth Creation to boosts production and profiteer from Africa continental free trade areas amongst others.
The President said government is working towards improving the situation of Cooperatives in the country. He said the project to improve financial inclusion will be rolled out in the countryside to improve governance of SACCOS.
According to Frederick Ngobi, the state minister for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, there were 19,718 registered cooperatives as of June 2019, a sharp rise from about 4,500 few years ago.
A section of the Cooperatives across the country converged at Wakiso district headquarters to commemorate the Cooperatives week.
They exhibited some of their economic activities at the event to share experience and build critical mass of Cooperative movement to demands for their share of the economy.
*****
URN
Without even apologizing for his/NRM government having bastardized the Cooperatives, Muzee Kivejinja adds insults to injuries. E.g. from where does Mr. Kivejinja expect the cooperative members (most of them are too old and others dead), to get the money to kick-start their businesses? Without the Cooperative Bank, borrowing is out of the question.
In other words, the government can get away with murder. From re-experimenting with barter trade at the end of the 20th Century, trials and errors sloganeering (entandikwa, Bonnabagaggawale and now wealth creation) and reinventing the wheel policies, NRM is the most vexing (annoying) regime Ugandans have ever had. Unfortunately Ugandans are to blame: They took Mr. Museveni’ lies and deceptions for Gospel truth.
As a result of experimenting with falsehood (lugezi-gezi), how many chains of people’s livelihood, which were dependent of the Cooperatives, the Marketing Boards, etc. suddenly were brought to a pile of ruin? How many jobs, even education opportunity were suddenly lost?
But to the dishonest Kivejinja of this country, it is business as usual.