Museveni tasks local council leaders on Emyooga funds

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has asked local council leaders to take advantage of Emyooga funds to promote financial empowerment for women.

Emyooga is a presidential wealth creation program launched in 2019 to lift at least 68 percent of Ugandans “from subsistence to market-oriented production.

While addressing the nation during the annual International Women’s Day celebrations at Kololo Independence grounds, Museveni said that it is only through financial empowerment that women can be less vulnerable.

Different reports have in the past indicated failure to utilize money disbursed by different districts under the fund. This was due to some SACCOs failing to save up to 30 percent of what they wanted to borrow as per the requirements.

Museveni said that next financial year, beneficiaries of the Emyooga funds should be entitled to a minimum of one million Shillings to be able to realize profit in their different income-generating projects.

Besides financial empowerment, other sectors like health, security, and education were also looked at as avenues to promote women empowerment.

International Women’s Day is commemorated annually on March 8 in recognition of the role and contribution of women to the development process across the world. The day provides an opportunity to enhance advocacy for the inclusion of women’s concerns on the development agenda.

According to the United Nations-UN, the year 2022 is pivotal for achieving gender equality in the context of climate change and environment and disaster risk reduction which are some of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century.

33 people were decorated with medals. They included 21 civilians, three UPDF soldiers, and 5 police officers.

This year’s global women’s day theme was “Gender Equality today for Sustainable Tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, the Leader of Opposition Mathias Mpuuga has asked the government to pay attention to different issues that affect women in the country. He cited bad governance, unemployment, maternal deaths, land evictions, and others.

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