Prime
Kabuleta pledges to revive cooperatives
Pastors pray for presidential candidate Joseph Kabuleta at Latter Rain Church in Mbale City on November 23, 2020. PHOTO / MICHEAL WONIALA
What you need to know:
- Mr John Masinde, a coffee farmer in Mbale District, said they only vote presidents who address their interests.
Independent presidential candidate Joseph Kizza Kabuleta has said he will revive and financially empower cooperative societies to fight household poverty in Bugisu Sub-region.
Addressing a campaign meeting at Rain Church in Industrial City Division yesterday, Mr Kabuleta said the NRM government has been killing cooperatives since it took power in 1986.
“The cooperatives had a lot of money before Mr Museveni came to power but after he captured power, he started dismantling them one by one to make Ugandans poor and enslave them,” Mr Kabuleta said.
He said political interference is also threatening the survival of Bugisu Cooperative Union (BCU), the only surviving traditional cooperative society in the country. “There is a lot of political interference in BCU to ensure it doesn’t serve the purpose of giving farmers good prices and paying them in time,” he said.
He added: “I give credit to BCU delegates for fighting hard to make sure the Union survives this long. This is the lifeblood of this community and they should not allow it to be killed,” Mr Kabuleta, said. BCU delegates at the weekend re-elected Mr Nathan Nandala Mafabi as their chairperson for the fifth term.
Mr Kabuleta, however, said without regime change, BCU will continue struggling. He said his government will fight exploitative middlemen and empower farmers by increasing coffee prices.
“If a farmer can get Shs7,000 per kilogramme of coffee from Shs3,000, that means we are doubling his income. This is what I mean when I talk about financial liberation,” he said.
Mr John Masinde, a coffee farmer in Mbale District, said they only vote presidents who address their interests.
“We are have been exploited a lot by middlemen, who buy our coffee at low prices. We need a leader, who will front our issues,” he said.
