Minister Mutuuzo decries middlemen’s unscrupulous ways

By Patrick Edward Musisi

The Minister of State for Gender Peace Mutuuzo has described middlemen as an unscrupulous lot surviving on other people’s ignorance, and blamed them for escalating the cost of goods.

She was on Thursday opening a three-day exhibition by members of Mukono District Non-Governmental Organization Forum (MUDINFO) at the district headquarters, organized to consolidate past achievements and enhance visibility of civil society organization (CSOs) in the district.

MUDINFO is an advocacy forum for NGOs in Mukono with a mission to build and enhance a sustainable networking mechanism through lobbying, capacity building and partnership building for effective service delivery.

In her opening speech, Minister Mutuuzo cited a bunch of matooke which she said costs shs. 5,000/= in Ntungamo, but goes for not less than shs 40,000/= in Kampala markets, and added, “I predict that by Christmas time it will hit shs 60,000/=”.

She hailed NGOs in Mukono for shining, and noted that they have ably utilized the platform set by government for their smooth operation, and encouraged them not to be bothered by people talking ill about them.

“NGOs have the machinery to take the district to another level and I must say that in Mukono, you have played your cards correctly and as government, we are impressed by your operation”, she said.

MUDINFO  Chairman Robert Kibaya asked the district council to consider the forum in the district’s budgetary process, arguing that it executes a lot of work on behalf of the council.

He said, “Singly or as a body, we have worked as partners with the district for long and executed much work that would be the responsibility of the council, yet we are operating with a limited budget, and we feel our services would be improved if we were given a push financially”.

The Director for Noah’s Ark Children’s Ministry in Uganda (NACMU) Rev. Peter Buitendijk said in an interview with Watchdog Uganda that children’s homes that have no component of preparing the children for getting re-united with their families are doing the wrong thing.

He said keeping the children in perpetual confinement in such homes runs counter to God’s arrangement who he said created humankind to be in natural homes not in the modern children’s homes.