In a vibrant display of grassroots fervor, hundreds of residents in Uganda’s Kayunga district threw their unequivocal support behind President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for a potential seventh term, crediting his flagship Emyooga initiative with pulling them from the clutches of exploitative moneylenders and igniting household prosperity. The endorsements, delivered amid chants and ululations at the launch of the Greater Mukono Emyooga Forum in Kiwangula village, Ntenjeru South constituency, underscored the program’s role as both an economic anchor and a political flashpoint.
The event, attended by local Emyooga beneficiaries from diverse trades including saloon operators, boda boda riders, restaurant owners, mechanics, and welders among mothers, transformed a sun-drenched Kiwangula Primary School field into a monumental ground to be remembered in years to come.
Launched in August 2019 by President Museveni, Emyooga forms the cornerstone of the Presidential Initiative on Wealth and Job Creation, a government strategy designed to shift 68% of Uganda’s subsistence-farming households toward market-oriented production. The program is Organized into 18 specialized “Emyooga” categories, to channel low-interest loans through Emyooga Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) to financially excluded entrepreneurs, fostering savings, investment, and collective enterprise.
Mr. Stephen Okhutu, the chairperson of Greater Mukono Emyooga Forum, electrified the crowd with a impassioned defense of the initiative’s transformative power. Drawing on its roots in Uganda’s traditional cooperative model, Okhutu argued that Emyooga’s simplicity makes it accessible to ordinary citizens. “Ignore those who dismiss Emyooga funds as ‘too little’—they’re voices from the already affluent, with their banks and options,” he declared,
His words met with resounding applause. “Emyooga for the hustlers, the families scraping to build better lives without a safety net. It teaches us to save, to invest through cooperatives and turning vulnerability into strength.”
Okhutu urged attendees to nurture these SACCOs into robust financial pillars, positioning them as bulwarks against Uganda’s notorious predatory lenders, informal “money lenders” accused of ensnaring borrowers in cycles of crippling debt through exorbitant rates and coercive tactics.
For many in Kayunga district, Emyooga has been nothing short of salvation: tales rippled through the gathering of welders expanding workshops, mechanics acquiring tools, and market vendors scaling operations without the fear of asset forfeiture.
The endorsements carried an unmistakable political edge, with beneficiaries weaving economic gratitude into pledges of loyalty. One after another, speakers linked their improved livelihoods directly to Museveni’s enduring stewardship, now spanning nearly four decades. “This program has shielded us from the wolves at the door,” proclaimed a boda boda operator, his voice hoarse from cheers. “Without it, we’d be back to begging from thieves disguised as lenders.”
Ms. Jenipher Nyakato, the State House-appointed regional coordinator for Emyooga in Greater Mukono, amplified the pro-Museveni chorus, framing the president’s long tenure as the bedrock of national stability. “Under his leadership, we’ve seen targeted lifelines like Emyooga and Operation Wealth Creation deliver real change,” she told the forum. “This continuity ensures our progress endures, why risk it on unproven hands?”
For these electorates, Emyooga isn’t just policy but a pact with prosperity, one that demands political fealty in return.
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