George Abdul, the Apac Resident District Commissioner, has warned Emyooga money recipients that failing to repay the funds could land them in prison.

According to Abdul, the government has so far granted shillings 1.78 billion under the scheme to fund 50 Emyooga SACCOS, but repayment is still inadequate.

This comes after three SACCOS recipients were sent in custody on Monday, October 16, for failing to repay shillings 15 million.

Moses Ayo, Opio Ilee, and Jacob Ocen, all members of Maruzi North Welders’ SACCOS, were remanded to Atopi Prison by Apac Grade One Magistrate Janet Ruth Adeke for failing to repay cash lent to the group two years ago.

The suspects were remanded in custody for six months.

Abdul praised Adeke for carrying out the wishes of the district security committee.

He stated that they are fighting to retrieve the revolving monies, and that some beneficiaries have become so obstinate that they refuse to repay the funds.

According to Abdul, this spurred the district security committee to suggest that errant debtors be collected through the courts.

“We tried all the persuasive means to talk to those who borrowed this revolving fund to pay back, but all we would get is, this was a presidential handshake we can’t pay back,”

“This money was meant to revolve and benefit all members of the SACCOS but greedy members not only borrowed but never wished to pay back,” he went on to say.

Emyooga is a presidential effort on wealth development and job creation that was started in August 2019 as part of a broader government strategy to transition 68% of homesteads from subsistence to market-oriented agriculture.

Its overarching goal is to stimulate job creation and raise household incomes.

The project is centered on several 18 categories/enterprises/emyooga, which cover the bulk of Ugandans who were previously financially excluded from similar specialized enterprise categories.