By Cindrella Atenyo
The Napak Resident District Commissioner, Milton Odongo has directed the police to arrest defaulters of government revolving funds channeled through various government poverty alleviation programs.
The directive follows reports that a majority of beneficiaries have failed to fulfill their loan obligation for the money they received under the Youth Livelihood Program (YLP) in 2014/2015 fiscal year.
Records from the office of the District Community Development Officer (DCDO), indicate that since the 2014/2015 financial year, the government has injected Shs2 billion to finance 231 youth livelihood projects in Napak District.
However, the district leaders are facing an uphill task in recovering the money as the beneficiaries have refused to pay back the money despite several reminders.
The recovery performance report indicates that out of Shs2 billion disbursed to 231 youth projects across the district only Shs303 million, accounting for 16 per cent have been recovered up-to-date.
Under the Emyooga program, the Presidential initiative on Wealth and Job Creation launched in August 2019, with the aim to transform 68 percent of homesteads from subsistence to market-oriented production, Napak District, received Shs1 billion.
The money was disbursed to 16 Emyooga SACCOs in Bokora County and 16 SACCOs under Bokora East Constituency, but the recovery rate currently stands at 24 per cent.
It’s for this reason that Odongo has issued an order, directing the office of the District Commercial Officer (DCO) and District Community Development Officer (DCDO) to tabulate a list of defaulters and submit to his office.
