State House Comptroller Jane Barekye has cautioned graduates of the Presidential Industrial Skilling Hubs against misusing government start-up loans, warning that President Yoweri Museveni will increase funding to their savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) only if the existing revolving funds are well managed.
Barekye specifically warned beneficiaries against spending the loans on non-productive activities, including alcohol and bride price.
“The President is going to add more money to these SACCOs. What we need from you is financial discipline. First invest the money in the rightful projects,” she said. “After your businesses grow and start making profits, you can then use the proceeds for things like bride price, but not these loans. Please don’t play with the President’s money.”
She was speaking on Tuesday during a stakeholders’ engagement at the Tooro Zonal Presidential Industrial Skilling Hub in Kyenjojo District, which brought together State House officials, local leaders, SACCO executives and beneficiaries to review the programme and its revolving fund. The hub serves Kyenjojo, Kyegegwa, Kamwenge, Fort Portal City, Bunyangabu and Kabarole.
Barekye said the 50m shillings provided to each district SACCO was a pilot intervention intended to help graduates turn their skills into sustainable, income-generating businesses. She said State House was reviewing the programme with local leaders to assess whether the money was achieving its purpose.
She urged leaders to monitor the district SACCOs closely to ensure funds reached the intended beneficiaries, and disclosed that a finance manager had been deployed to strengthen supervision and track how the revolving funds were used.
Ronald Aroho,Finance Manager pledged to work with SACCO leaders, district commercial officers and other stakeholders to improve accountability. Barekye directed him to work alongside the commercial officers rather than set up a parallel system, and encouraged district leaders to make unannounced visits to the hub.
“This is your project; don’t let it die. The President has invested a lot in it,” she said.
Barekye also challenged local governments to support graduates by awarding them contracts to supply school desks, beds and other products they are trained to make, and said larger contracts should require contractors to employ hub-trained youth. She encouraged communities to use the hub’s four-acre model farm to learn commercial agriculture, including fish farming.
Mulungi Kenneth, chairperson of the Kabarole District Hub SACCO, said 36 graduates had so far accessed the revolving fund but that the absence of National IDs among some beneficiaries was limiting uptake. Kamwenge District Hub SACCO chairperson Akampulira Everest said 13 beneficiaries had received loans and invested them as intended, but that registration requirements, including access to Wendi services, remained difficult for youth without IDs.
The leaders appealed to State House to review the requirements, arguing that graduates without National IDs should not be excluded outright if their identities and graduation can be verified. Easing the bottlenecks, they said, would stop money sitting idle in SACCO accounts while trained youth struggle to access capital.
Kabasiita Janet, a tailoring graduate from Kitagwenda, said she had had little hope of formal employment because she lacked academic qualifications. A 560,000-shilling SACCO loan allowed her to start earning from her skills, but she said the amount was not enough to buy a sewing machine, pay rent and stock materials for a fully equipped business. She said the programme had restored her confidence and that her nationally recognised certificate had opened new opportunities, including a leadership role in her church.
Abenitwe Jordan, a carpentry graduate from Kitagwenda, said he received 1.35m shillings and used it to set up a workshop. He said he produces beds at about 180,000 shillings and sells them for between 250,000 and 350,000 shillings, depending on design, and has diversified into poultry and piggery. “Since my childhood, I had never put on a coat and tie, but because of this programme, I can now wear this attire,” he said.
For Atuyambe Hannah, from Katunguru in Kyenjojo, the programme offered an alternative to working abroad. After Senior Four, she said, her father had encouraged her to travel overseas for domestic work, which she was uncomfortable with. She instead heard about the hub on radio, enrolled in 2023 and completed a tailoring course in July 2024. After graduating she received a 560,000-shilling loan, started a tailoring business and later began selling household items. She now earns between 250,000 and 300,000 shillings a month, supports her family and saves part of her income.
Bunyangabu Resident District Commissioner Nicholas Kamukama praised the programme’s mindset-change training, saying it had produced disciplined graduates, and suggested similar engagements be extended to leaders, warning that some government programmes are undermined when leaders politicise them. Kyenjojo RDC Ayesiga Julian Sarah welcomed the model farm but urged State House to add irrigation to sustain it through dry seasons. Kabarole Deputy RDC Benuza Jane Atenyi said the hub was strengthening household incomes by equipping both women and men with employable skills.
President Museveni introduced the revolving fund after graduates said they lacked capital to start businesses despite their vocational skills. The government injected 50million into each district graduates’ SACCO, from which beneficiaries borrow to set up enterprises and repay so that others can also benefit.
