By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
The minister of industry, trade and cooperatives, Henry Mwebesa on Tuesday August 1 instituted a 14 member committee tasked with overseeing the revival of the defunct Uganda Cooperative Bank.
Established in the 1960s as a commercial bank, UCB closed on May 19, 1999 over alleged mismanagement of funds.
Many Ugandans like Rtd Lt. Moses Magufuri and cooperative societies have since proposed to re-establish an agricultural and cooperative bank but efforts to revive it have ended prematurely.
On Tuesday, minister Mwebesa launched a 14-member committee at the ministry headquarters spearhead the revival process.
The instituted committee has at least two representatives from seven institutions such a as Uganda Co-operative Alliance Ltd (UCA), Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Walimu Cooperative Union, and Wazalendo SACCO.
Others include Parliamentary SACCO, Uganda Central Cooperative Financial Services (UCCFS), and Uganda Cooperative Savings and Credit Union Limited (UCSCU).
Speaking at the launch of the committee the Minister of State for Cooperatives, Fredrick Gume Ngobi urged the committee to develop a roadmap for the consultations.
Earlier on, minister Ngobi told the media that bank will enable Ugandans in cooperatives to save more money in order to invest in projects to develop themselves.
Revitalization of the bank will also ease access to affordable and appropriate financing for cooperatives to Ugandans in all sectors.
