The Members of Parliament from the Public Accounts Committee have asked State House to scrap its poverty alleviation programme arguing that it is a duplicate of other poverty alleviation programmes that are already in place like the National Agricultural Advisory Services and Bonabagagawale programme or prosperity for all programme.

Uganda statehouse

While answering to queries raised in the Audit Report of 2006/7 today at Parliament audit reports, Statehouse revealed that it had spent 1 billion shillings on a poverty alleviation programme in that year that started about 10 years ago and reportedly operating in 19 model villages in Uganda some of which include Kisozi in Mbarara, Kyanamukaka in Masaka, Busita in Sironko and Nakisanja in Mpigi district.

The Member of Parliament for Mbale Municipality, Jack Wamayi Wamanga has told the committee that this programme is similar to other programmes of poverty alleviation and it would be unfair to allocate funds to different programmes that carry out almost the same activities.

Wamanga says besides there seems to be some influence peddling in the way model villages are chosen to benefit from this programme since there is no clear way of choosing which villages should benefit from the programme as model farmers.

Though the government has put in place various interventions to fight poverty in the country, the levels poverty remain eminent with masses of Uganda from both urban and rural areas of Uganda feeling the pinch of poverty.

By Zakaria Tiberindwa, Ultimate Media