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Seasoned cooperator Nathan Nandala Mafabi, is contesting to be the next Board Chairman of Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA).

He is buoyant about prospects of UCA under his tested leadership.

The UCA Annual General Meeting (AGM) is due on the 15th December, 2021 just under a week from now. During this General Assembly, UCA is seeking to fill the position of the Chairman amongst other vacant positions on the board.

A highly qualified certified public accountant and lawyer, Nandala has served for more than 13 years at the helm of Bugisu Cooperative Union, he also, “boasts” as the best Chairman UCA can ever have in the new term.

“I don’t need introduction, I am a Cooperator with results, at Bugisu Cooperative Union where I have been the Chairman since 2008, farmers have been getting a good price for their coffee, check everywhere I have worked, World Bank, and Ministry of Finance they will tell you that I am a man of results.”

Nandala says, he wants to continue serving Ugandans, by sharing his skills and experience and bringing unity to the sector. He vowed that his interest in UCA’s leadership had everything to do with cooperative development and warned that no one should confuse his bid with his parliamentary politics.

“For me, I know that there is politics in everything, in a family there is politics, in circumcision there is politics, in parliament there is politics. This time in UCA, it is just cooperatives. We should not mix things up, because I don’t do that and everyone knows that about me.”

Nandala comes at a time when the majority of the founder union members of UCA like Busoga Growers Cooperative Union, Banyankore Kweterana Cooperative Union, North Mbale Cooperative Union, Masaka District Growers Cooperative Union, Nyakatonzi Growers Cooperative Union, Uganda Growers Cooperative Union, Mubende district Growers Cooperative Union, Bunyoro Growers Cooperative Union, Lango Cooperative Union, and Bugisu Cooperative Union have not been involved much in the business of their own UCA, something that worries him.

Nandala is concerned about the caliber and composition of most of UCA’s current membership. He is particularly wondering why primary cooperatives have been claiming membership of the apex, when the Cooperative Act Cap 112 is categorical that an apex cooperative must only have secondary and tertiary cooperative members.

He admits that part of his interest in the Board Chairmanship of UCA is to re-engage the secondary and tertiary unions that started UCA and the ones that qualify to be members of UCA now, so that the movement can be in a better position to contribute to national development.

The BCU Chairman, has pledged to deliver the following in his 100 days at the helm of UCA by re-engaging the original members of UCA and ensuring that the primary cooperatives under all the secondary and tertiary cooperatives members of UCA are united and collaborating. He commits to organizing UCA to partner with the government to ensure that the Parish Development Model delivers to ordinary Ugandans.

“Members of Busoga Cooperative Union should know the members of West Nile Cooperative Union, and they should benefit from each other. I am going to ensure that the unions move together with the primaries, so that there is strength at all levels up to the apex.”

He scoffs at the limited capacity that UCA has exhibited in the recent past, reminiscing that when UCA was still vibrant it was a hub for well-coordinated business development and training services.

He argues that UCA right now should be leading the design of the operational manuals for procurement, accounts, human resource and others which would then be customized by the members of the cooperatives, citing an absence of technical support from the apex where his cooperative-BCU belongs.

He also vowed to promote equality amongst the members, by ensuring that UCA focuses on their socio-economic wellbeing and not individual interests.

He shared the experience of his primary cooperative in which he mentioned that members are not charged interest on loans and because of the kind of care and trust, the loans are paid on time.

Similarly, he urged cooperatives to always try and understand the objectives of their founders, arguing that when the founders are self-seeking, the cooperative can not be in position to serve the needs of the members.

Nandala pledges to work with the government to ensure that cooperatives re-establish the Cooperative Bank. He argues that, the Cooperative Bank would ensure that the financing terms are favorable for the agricultural community which is riddled by a multiplicity of weather vagaries.

“I want to ensure that we start and end the journey of having our bank returned and operational in the first 100 days. The government gave us back the Cooperative Bank already,” he said.

Relatedly, he has expressed his concern about the operations of many of the Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs- financial services cooperatives) in Uganda, most of whom he believes are not focused on accelerating the socio-economic wellbeing of members but on profit.

“Cooperatives are not profit driven entities, they are there to improve the life of the members, in fact the kind of credit that members obtain from their cooperatives must be interest free.”

Nandala has also committed to work with the government to streamline war compensation. He tasked the government to ensure equal and fair war compensation arguing that, all cooperatives in Uganda were affected by the wars in equal measure.

He wondered why there is preferential treatment in the compensation process, where other cooperatives seem to be given more priority than others. He argues that compensation should be done in a way that does not leave any cooperative behind, stating that the losses cooperatives faced happened mostly within the same period.

He also advised that the compensation fund should be a lump sum that is therefore spread to all war losing cooperatives, so that the development that is anticipated from the compensation can be realized simultaneously across the country.

When asked about the recent allegations of forgery, misappropriation as well as high staff and board turnover at UCA, he says he was not sure of the realities and until these issues are investigated, he cannot give a fair comment on them.

https://thecooperator.news/minister-urges-the-investigative-arms-of-government-to-interest-themselves-in-corruption/

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Jacob Oulanyah, the Speaker of Parliament of Uganda has rallied members of the community, especially from Northern Uganda to turn up in large numbers to get vaccinated if the economy in the region is to be fully opened.

For close to two years now, Uganda’s economy has been partially operating with most sectors closed to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

According to Oulanyah, the Acholi community has been deceived that the jabs are ill-intended and will have a negative impact on their lives, which he says is untrue.

“I have listened to some unfortunate and misleading messages from the region. So, my people please respond to this call to be vaccinated. They are giving you a shield to protect yourself. Because otherwise, it has become a necessity even along borders, you don’t have it, you miss services”. Oulanyah says.

“Opening up schools, businesses, and the whole economy will majorly depend on the level of vaccination. The accusations which are not scientifically proven are baseless. Please be encouraged and go and take these vaccinations. These vaccines expire, so let’s get vaccinated because if we don’t, we are done” Oulanyah adds.

Oulanyah attributes the massive negative propaganda campaign against the vaccines because other powerful people and countries are willing to fund such information to frustrate the efforts of countries who are trying to locally produce vaccines and drugs.

“We know that some countries who are producing vaccines would even go as far as funding negative propaganda information on the vaccines because they want to make more money. For that matter, I want to rally my people to support local vaccines which are already in the final testing stages. Let’s encourage our scientists to help because we are counting on them to help us with this epidemic” Oulanyah said.

In a bid to boost vaccination, the Gulu City COVID-19 Taskforce has restricted entry to the Gulu main market and bus terminal to only those who are willing to get vaccinated or have partially or fully received their vaccinations.

This comes when the City is struggling to realize the target for vaccination despite the Ministry of Health launching mass vaccinations. Currently, the city has only vaccinated just 30 percent of the population with most of the increase in percentage realized during the ongoing mass COVID-19 vaccinations.

Denis Odongpiny, the Gulu Resident City Commissioner [RCC] confirmed to our reporter saying, they have in a follow-up meeting with the leadership of the main market and the bus terminal resolved that anyone accessing these premises must produce a COVID-19 vaccination card showing that they vaccinated.

“I engaged the people in the market. That is where we resolved that if one is not vaccinated and not willing to get vaccinated, we are not going to allow you to access the market because we have a team ready to vaccinate those who have not been vaccinated. Even at Gulu hospital, the day the Minister launched the mass vaccination, it was resolved that for any medical worker to access the regional hospital, they must get vaccinated.

Odongpiny blamed the low uptake of the vaccines on social media fake news with others claiming the vaccines brought to the Acholi sub-region have been contaminated, which is totally not true.

Susan Acan, a trader at the Gulu main market worries that despite the good intention for the resolution, they are likely to lose business especially with the Christmas season around the corner.

“Much as the resolution of the authorities is intended towards vaccinating all of us, but we also know that there are people who are not willing to get vaccinated and as a result, this is going to affect our sales especially those who come from the villages for Christmas shopping,” Acan observed.

Most of the districts in the Acholi sub-region have been recording low uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines majorly due to social media reports. In Amuru district, the district task force was forced to make it mandatory for health workers and the district staff to get vaccinated or face missing out on salaries.

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