ANKOLE-KIGEZI CURSE GROW PROJECT! Leaders Expose Loan Hurdles, Batwa Exclusion, Missing Beneficiary Details & Bank Secrecy Under Gender Ministry Watch

RUKUNGIRI/KABALE — The government-backed Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) Project has come under fire from leaders in the Ankole and Kigezi sub-regions over alleged loan access hurdles, questionable beneficiary figures, limited transparency and barriers facing marginalised communities, including the Batwa.

The leaders say the programme, designed to improve access to affordable financing for women-owned businesses, is falling short of expectations, with stringent commercial bank requirements and limited information about beneficiaries raising questions about its implementation.

During a stakeholder workshop at Riverside Hotel in Rukungiri Municipality on Thursday, district leaders, Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), mayors, women representatives and other officials questioned how beneficiaries were selected, how funds were distributed and why local authorities struggled to establish who had received support.

The concerns have put the spotlight on the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, which is overseeing the initiative intended to help women-owned micro and small enterprises expand into medium-sized businesses.

LOAN TERMS SPARK FURY

Peace Musiime, the NRM Women’s League chairperson for Ntungamo District, questioned the affordability of loans being offered through commercial banks.

Musiime cited her own experience with a bank that offered her Shs18m, repayable within nine months at an interest rate of 20 per cent, saying the terms were inconsistent with the project’s guidelines.

The leaders argued that some women were being directed towards commercial loans instead of accessing financing under GROW, defeating the programme’s objective of providing affordable credit to women entrepreneurs.

Jasinta Musiime Kakururu, the Rukungiri District Women Entrepreneurship Programme chairperson, also challenged claims that 285 people in the district had benefited from the project.

She said the figure had been presented during an earlier workshop in Rubanda, but no supporting evidence was provided to enable her to verify the beneficiaries.

Faith Tumwebaze, the Kiruhura District Community Development Officer, and Bright Tukunda, the Ibanda District LCV chairperson, also raised concerns about the barriers women face in accessing the funds.

The leaders further complained that district officials were struggling to trace beneficiaries because commercial banks were not sharing the relevant information.

RDCs IN THE DARK

Rukungiri RDC Bron Kikanshemeza said his office had limited information about the project’s implementation, including beneficiary selection, allocation of funds and monitoring mechanisms.

The concerns raised questions about how local leaders could effectively monitor the programme and establish whether the intended beneficiaries were receiving the support.

Kabale District Principal Assistant Secretary Manzi Gordon highlighted another challenge, saying marginalised groups, including members of the Batwa community, faced additional barriers to accessing the funds.

Gordon said some members of the community lacked established businesses and struggled to meet bureaucratic requirements, making it difficult for them to benefit from a programme intended to empower women entrepreneurs.

The concerns brought the project’s inclusivity into focus, with leaders questioning whether the financing arrangements were sufficiently accessible to women operating under difficult economic circumstances.

GOVERNMENT DEFENDS BANK ROUTE

Responding to the concerns, National GROW Project Coordinator John Ssengendo, who represented the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, said the government had opted to channel funds through commercial banks to improve loan recovery and minimise defaults.

Finance Minister Henry Musasizi, meanwhile, said the government had spent Shs10.75 trillion on wealth-creation programmes over the past five years, with GROW among the initiatives intended to improve access to affordable financing.

Musasizi made the remarks during a separate GROW stakeholder meeting for the Kigezi sub-region at the Uganda National Institute for Teacher Education (UNITE), Kabale Campus.

The meeting assessed implementation in the six districts of Kabale, Rubanda, Rukiga, Kisoro, Kanungu and Rukungiri.

He said GROW had received up to US$217m in World Bank funding and offered loans ranging from Shs2m to Shs200m, with interest rates ranging from five to 10 per cent.

Musasizi said the government remained committed to bringing households into the money economy through wealth-creation initiatives.

SHS160BN DISBURSED NATIONWIDE

State Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development in charge of the elderly, Jacqueline Mbabazi, said GROW specifically targeted women in business and sought to support up to 40 per cent of Uganda’s women-owned business enterprises.

She cited research indicating that women-owned businesses generated profits up to 30 per cent lower than those owned by men, arguing that targeted interventions were necessary to address the gap.

National GROW Project Coordinator Dr Ruth Aisha Kasolo said Shs11.3bn had so far been disbursed in the Kigezi sub-region.

Rukungiri received the largest share at Shs3.5bn, followed by Kabale with Shs2.2bn. Nationally, Kasolo said, Shs160bn had been disbursed under the project.

She added that women accessing GROW loans would receive support to register their businesses and obtain Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) certification at no cost, with the aim of helping them formalise their enterprises and access wider markets.

MINISTER QUESTIONS IMPACT

However, the Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development, Lt. Gen. Henry Tumukunde, questioned whether the funding was translating into visible results.

Tumukunde said the beneficiaries identified on the ground appeared difficult to reconcile with records held by government offices, adding another dimension to the questions surrounding beneficiary identification and programme monitoring.