President Yoweri Museveni has said he contemplated canceling all loans by Money lenders because of the obscene interest rates they charge their customers.
Speaking to the NRM Parliamentary Caucus at State House Entebbe, Museveni said there is an urgent need for the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development to come up with a statutory instrument to operationalize section 90 of Tier 4 Microfinance Institutions and Money Lenders Act 2016 within two weeks to control interest rates.
“These money lenders who are causing suicide to our young people, who allow them to operate? Because I wanted to cancel all the loans of the money lenders,” Museveni said.
Money lenders can charge as much as 40 percent interest payable every month and the principal paid back in three months. This has caused people to lose their property which they use as security.
The Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka informed the President that money lenders are provided for by law and are licensed by the microfinance institutions which are managed by the Ministry of Finance. “However, the Ministry of Finance was required under the law to make a provision for the maximum interest payable in this case which has not been done since 2016,” Kiryowa Kiwanuka said.
The caucus resolved to direct the Minister of Finance to come up with a statutory instrument to operationalize section 90 of the Tier 4 Microfinance Institutions and Money Lenders Act 2016 within two weeks to control interest rates.
Meanwhile, Museveni urged Members of Parliament to fight corruption if they want to be appreciated by the people. “I’m going to crush these corrupt people. When you hear bloodshed don’t get surprised. Because you are going to kill your country. So, I want you to support me If I bring with the Attorney General an amendment saying that if anybody extorts money in the name of the President, should go to jail for some time. We are going to attack a few examples and they will become examples of others,” Museveni assured NRM legislators.
Museveni also said that political leaders should always do a socioeconomic diagnosis to know the problems of the people they lead so that they are able to solve them. He however said the NRM leaders were lucky because they belong to a political family that is able to diagnose and offer prescriptions in the form of solutions to Ugandans. “The work of a local health worker is to simply implement the mass prescription for the area. So, this is the same way with the political leaders in an area. What is the sickness of the population?” he asked.
Museveni appealed to the caucus members to focus on enhancing the homestead incomes of people in their areas. “So, we said the prescription is to work with Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) soldiers to talk to people and show them how to join the money economy through agriculture. As leaders, your job was simple just to inform them to get the free government seedlings and to check whether the soldiers were delivering the seedlings in a good way, or they were making some mistakes then you point them out. The problem is that in some cases even when they join the money economy they do so without ekibalo,” he noted.
He advised that if the politicians concentrate on the homestead incomes, they will be able to stabilize the politics in their areas by using government resources but not their money.
“Your work is very simple, monitor government programs because the government has already sent in money, you are going to be very popular if you are looking for popularity. If you come and say, the government sent money here, where is it, and what happened to it? People will like you because you will be exposing the corrupt people, the thieves. You are here at the center, you have the information,” Museveni said.
He added “Like now this Parish Development Model (PDM), if you really follow it up like in my area in Kisozi, I know how many homesteads which are there, and I have so far involved 1,700 homesteads out of the over 2,000 homesteads. If you are to check your homesteads even if you cover 50 homesteads each year or 100, they will get out of working for only the stomach and start working for the stomach and pocket. You will get less pressure from politics because people will appreciate it,” he said.
The President also urged the leaders that while in society, they should look for some success stories that can inspire other Ugandans to work hard to uplift their livelihoods. “If you manage to get some two or more successes of those who implement the word, then these are the ones you use. I have been telling you many times about the model farmer Nyakana of Fort Portal and I send people to go there and see. And if there are no good examples in your area, start one yourself,” he said.
The President also tasked the caucus members to support the State House Skilling programs, support the Ministry of Education with technical schools, and well Emyooga program to help more youth create jobs themselves to deal with the challenge of unemployment in the country. “You have seen what my small skilling program with my State House Comptroller has done, it is very popular with the youth due to its impact.”
In the same meeting, the Vice President, Jessica Alupo gave a brief to the President on the UN General Assembly which took place in New York where she represented Uganda. The Government Chief Whip and Chairperson of the NRM Parliamentary Caucus, Denis Obua thanked Museveni for spearheading the allocation of Shs 1bn to every district and city/ Municipality for road maintenance.
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