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(MONITOR UGANDA) FARMER'S DIARY: In defence of “corrupt” Naads officials

FARMER'S DIARY: In defence of “corrupt” Naads officials
By Michael J. Ssali
Posted Wednesday, December 30 2009 at 00:00

President Museveni during a visit to the farm of Mr Charles Galiwango, one of the beneficiaries of Naads support in Bigasa Sub-county, Masaka District. Mr Museveni wants officials who steal Naads money arrested.

In Summary

A leading farmer and NRM cadre in Lwengo Sub-county Masaka District, Hajj Erias Nyindo, who obtained cloned coffee seedlings with assistance from State House in 2000 for distribution among fellow farmers also had it rough on December 22 when the entire crowd at Mbiriizi Town shouted as President Museveni listened that he had never passed them on to anyone and that he had used all the seedlings.

Some of us who have been keenly following President Museveni’s visits to farmers across the country to assess the performance of the National Agricultural and Advisory Services programme (Naads) have often witnessed cases of people crying out to the president at the rallies that they are not aware of the programme’s activities.

Usually they have tried to give the impression that the Naads officials are dishonest, lazy and have not done any work among the farmers. And more often than not, the press has taken advantage of the crowds’ claims and come up with screaming headlines about Naads as another of those programmes in which billions of shillings are lost to corrupt individuals.

Where the peasants confessed the active existence of the programme, like in many parts of Rakai District, they still told the president that it was only benefiting the rich and leaving out the poor, the principle target of the programme. At Katovu, in Marongo Sub-county, Masaka District, the crowd cried to the president that the Naads funds have mainly gone to the councillors.

When His Excellency heard such remarks, he opted to play the fair judge by calling upon the Naads District Coordinator or the District’s Chief Administrative Officer to explain why the Naads money had not reached the farmers. But, of course, the money could not go to all farmers and the officers have suffered untold humiliation as targets of insults and booing at the rallies. When the president said that he was going to send out spies to investigate how the Naads officials had distributed the money to the farmers, everyone cheered.

A leading farmer and NRM cadre in Lwengo Sub-county Masaka District, Hajj Erias Nyindo, who obtained cloned coffee seedlings with assistance from State House in 2000 for distribution among fellow farmers also had it rough on December 22 when the entire crowd at Mbiriizi Town shouted as President Museveni listened that he had never passed them on to anyone and that he had used all the seedlings.

The truth however is, Hajj Nyindo did distribute the cloned coffee seedlings to the farmers. Your columnist followed the entire process back then. To this day, Hajj Nyindo distributes coffee seedlings, prepared on his Naads funded coffee nursery at Bulasana Village, to interested farmers. It is not even likely that President Museveni’s spies will arrest many Naads officials for failure to pass on the money to deserving farmers. The amount of Naads money allocated to every sub-county is always made public. There are well selected forums at all levels right to the village level whose mandate is to watch who has got the money, how much he got, what he plans do with it, and whether he is actually paying it back. Intending borrowers must be members of farmers groups who also should be attached to a Sacco. It is important for us to try to understand the poor and why they are poor. In the first place, not everyone really wants to be rich despite the Prosperity-for-All slogan. Some people out there are too poor to be touched by the Naads hand. There are yet others who lack the financial discipline demanded by Naads.

Some hate work and prefer to spend more time resting or soliciting drink in bars. Others simply cannot join farmers’ groups because they are too poor to pay membership fees or even to obtain passport size photographs needed for members’ identification documents. Some fear to attend village farmers’ seminars for lack of decent clothing. They have no money to save so they cannot join Saccos through which Naads channels funding. When men like Hajj Nyindo call upon them to go for coffee seedlings such people don’t turn up. Some have no land to plant the coffee.

For a farmer to qualify to borrow Naads funds he or she must be recommended by his or her group as credit worthy. In nearly every village there are people who will not pay back even a mere Shs500 lent to them and so they are left out.

However, when President Museveni visits, every Dick and Harry goes to his rally and they have a constitutional right to speak to their president, but if the president digs deeper into the allegations, he will discover like I said earlier that the very people who blame Naads officials are also responsible for the biting poverty they suffer because they have failed to predispose themselves to the programmes of the state.

ssalimichael *** yahoo.com

Labels: FSP, NAADS, UGANDA

posted by MrK @ 9:51 AM