{"id":15502,"date":"2021-08-09T17:15:03","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T17:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=15502"},"modified":"2021-08-09T16:51:11","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T16:51:11","slug":"400000-kigezi-locals-fleeced-in-sacco-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/400000-kigezi-locals-fleeced-in-sacco-scam","title":{"rendered":"400,000 Kigezi locals fleeced in Sacco scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>At least 480,000 locals in the seven districts of Kigezi Sub-region are crying foul after they were mobilised to form Sacco schemes to benefit from the Shs4 billion economic empowerment project but have waited in vain, four years later.<\/p>\n

The locals in the districts of Rukungiri, Ntungamo, Kanungu, Kisoro, Rubanda, Kabale, and Rukiga were mobilised into groups by a non-government organisation (NGO), Boona Bagaigahare Nyekundeire, headed by Ms Peace Rugambwa, and were later registered into a Sacco under the same name in 2017 in order to benefit from government\u2019s poverty alleviation programmes of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) and the Micro Finance Support Centre.<\/p>\n

Government through OWC, had committed to support farmers in onion growing and to offer agro-farm inputs to improve their household incomes.<\/p>\n

With representatives from all the Sacco members in the seven districts, the Sacco leadership and that of the NGO have since cut off ties with the locals who want their money refunded and the matter investigated.<\/p>\n

Ms Hadija Begumisa, 72, a resident of Rwabigangura Village in Kebisoni Town Council, who also runs a stall at Kebisoni Daily Market, said: \u201cI registered about 283 members from my village. Some members registered more than once hoping to receive more shares and more items, but this has not been realised.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the day she delivered the last batch of registered members to Sacco\u2019s top leadership in May 2017, she has never heard of them.<\/p>\n

Mr Michael Kwarikunda Mbareeba, a former Rukiga District councillor, called on the government to investigate the scam and have culprits prosecuted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe locals were cheated in broad daylight and we cannot allow this to pass. If the locals cannot get what was promised to them, there must be effective communication so that they are brought on board. Since authorities were also involved, let them have this matter investigated,\u201d Mr Mbareeba said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe trusted Ms Rugambwa since she had campaigned for President Museveni in the 2016 polls. Everyone is wondering what happened. The people who registered in Ntungamo are more than 100,000,\u201d Mr Mohamed Rwomushana, the Kayonza Sub-county chair, said.<\/p>\n

Key campaigners of the organisation included a retired Anglican Church Bishop Joram Kayeye, the Kisoro District chairperson, Mr James Bizimana, several RDCs and Operation Wealth Creation district commanders.<\/p>\n

When contacted for a comment, Ms Rugambwa cited sabotage in the activities by State House personnel, who despite directives for funding from the President, never heeded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe money residents were paying was only for membership. President Museveni ordered for funding of our activities, but key State House people blocked it. I don\u2019t know the intention, but even with the strong commitment of the President, they have refused to give us money,\u201d Ms Rugambwa said.<\/p>\n

She notes that it is hard for her to even travel to the village where she was born because people think she stole their money.<\/p>\n

During the Rukungiri Woman MP by-elections, President Museveni promised to support the organisation and offered financial support of Shs60m.<\/p>\n

Registration<\/b><\/p>\n

As a requirement for registration, each of the locals was asked to pay Shs12,000 to register with the NGO and Shs20,000 to register with the Sacco in order to benefit from the Shs4b funding from the Micro Finance Support Centre. Some paid more money after they were asked to buy more shares to become majority shareholders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. At least 480,000 locals in the seven districts of Kigezi Sub-region are crying foul after they were mobilised to form Sacco schemes to benefit from the Shs4 billion economic empowerment project but have waited in vain, four years later. The locals in the districts of Rukungiri, Ntungamo, Kanungu, Kisoro, Rubanda, Kabale, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":15501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-15502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\n400,000 Kigezi locals fleeced in Sacco scam - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At least 480,000 locals in the seven districts of Kigezi Sub-region are crying foul after they were mobilised to form Sa ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/400000-kigezi-locals-fleeced-in-sacco-scam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"400,000 Kigezi locals fleeced in Sacco scam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At least 480,000 locals in the seven districts of Kigezi Sub-region are crying foul after they were mobilised to form Sa ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/400000-kigezi-locals-fleeced-in-sacco-scam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-09T17:15:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/08\/img-61115ceab0607.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/400000-kigezi-locals-fleeced-in-sacco-scam#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/400000-kigezi-locals-fleeced-in-sacco-scam\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"400,000 Kigezi locals fleeced in Sacco scam\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-09T17:15:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/400000-kigezi-locals-fleeced-in-sacco-scam\"},\"wordCount\":554,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/400000-kigezi-locals-fleeced-in-sacco-scam#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/08\/img-61115ceab0607.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/400000-kigezi-locals-fleeced-in-sacco-scam#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/400000-kigezi-locals-fleeced-in-sacco-scam\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/400000-kigezi-locals-fleeced-in-sacco-scam\",\"name\":\"400,000 Kigezi locals fleeced in Sacco scam - 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