President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has urged residents of Karamoja to embrace the government’s Emyooga programme and use the prevailing peace in the region to fight poverty and accelerate development. Museveni’s message was delivered on Sunday by John Baptist Lokii, the Minister for Karamoja Affairs and NRM Vice Chairperson for Karamoja, who represented the President as Guest of Honour at celebrations marking 50 years of Karamoja Diocese in Moroto.
The event also featured a fundraising drive for the construction of the diocesan Bishop’s House and attracted political leaders from the Karamoja sub-region, religious leaders, Christians and members of the Pokot community from neighbouring Kenya. In his message, Museveni acknowledged that Karamoja continues to grapple with poverty, hunger and underdevelopment but said residents could improve their livelihoods by taking advantage of government programmes, particularly Emyooga.
He said insecurity had for years hindered development in the region but noted that the government’s disarmament efforts had helped restore peace, creating an opportunity for residents to focus on economic activities. Museveni said Emyooga was introduced to address household poverty and youth unemployment, urging residents to embrace the initiative to improve their economic well-being.
Davinia Esther Anyakun, the State Minister for Karamoja Affairs, also urged residents to take the programme seriously and use it to transform their lives. Rita Namuwenge, the National Coordinator of the State House Emyooga Monitoring and Coordination Unit, said her team would spend the week in Karamoja assessing the programme’s implementation and supporting efforts to improve the recovery of funds disbursed to beneficiaries.
Namuwenge said Harshidah Musherure Kuteesa, the State Minister in charge of Microfinance, would join the team in carrying out socio-economic transformation activities in the region under the programme. She said the team would assess progress and engage beneficiaries who had defaulted on repayments to ensure that the money is recovered and made available to other members through their Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs).
Namuwenge said Karamoja was among the regions registering poor recovery rates under Emyooga, adding that the monitoring exercise was intended to improve repayment and enable more beneficiaries to access the funds. “As the President said in his speech, this is the only government programme that has targeted the youth, elders, women, veterans and other categories of people, so I see no reason why the people of Karamoja should remain in poverty,” Namuwenge said.
Canon Joshua Agan, the Chairperson of the Karamoja Diocese Development Committee, welcomed the President’s message but said the region continued to lag partly because some residents remained focused on cattle rustling instead of engaging in government programmes and other productive economic activities. Agan said the diocese had previously lobbied the President for a vehicle for the Bishop, but the house currently accommodating the Bishop was old and too small, prompting the fundraising drive. The celebrations marked 50 years since Karamoja Diocese was carved out of Soroti Diocese-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
