The Senior Presidential Advisor in charge of Mobilisation, Mr. Moses Byaruhanga today met with members of the Patriotic Development Initiatives Ltd in Makerere Industrial Area, Kagugube Parish, where he engaged traders and commended them for their continued support, including voting for President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
During the meeting, Mr. Byaruhanga informed the traders that the government remains committed to supporting people through key wealth creation programs such as the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga.
He however, emphasized that for these traders who didn’t benefit from PDM and emyooga, they must first organize themselves into well-structured groups in order to benefit from the government arrangements.
He noted that he will soon call upon their leaders to establish the number of traders, understand the nature of their businesses, and identify the kind of support required.
“What I don’t want is to put money in the SACCO and it doesn’t reach the targeted people,” he said.
Mr. Byaruhanga reassured the traders that the government is ready to support them, stressing that availability of funds is not the challenge, but rather proper organization and accountability.
He cited successful examples from markets such as Kalerwe, Nakawa, Busega, and Ggaba, which have already benefited from the Katale loan initiative. Under this arrangement, traders can access loans of up to UGX 1 million with an annual interest of UGX 80,000.
“With markets, we sat down with microfinance institutions and agreed to get a government money lender who will give loans at a very low interest rate,” he explained.
He further called upon leaders to closely monitor the performance of businesses within their groups so that the government can extend additional support where necessary.
He also urged members to be strategic and ensure that once they receive the funds, they should be in position to pay back so that others can benefit.
The Chairman of the Patriotic Development Initiatives, Mr. Tumusime James thanked President Museveni for the government’s ongoing initiatives and called upon traders to work together in unity to fully benefit from these programs.
