Speaker demand gender minister to table the status of grow project.

Speaker of Parliament Anita Among has tasked the Minister of Gender, Betty Amongi to provide a statement on which women in Uganda are meant to benefit from the US$217m Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) Project which is a grant from the World Bank, intended to provide funds for women entrepreneurs in Uganda.

She issued the directive during the plenary sitting where she explained that several complaints have been raised from both the women and its leaders surrounding the mystery of the project, with some wondering if the project is only intended to benefit women entrepreneurs in Kampala.

“I have got many complaints about women on the GROW project, they are wondering whether GROW is to benefit women on Kampala Road or it is benefitting the women outside there, and the leaders are also saying, they don’t have the regulations, They want you to share the Regulations and then, give us an account of who are the beneficiaries of GROW. So, I want to ask the Minister to come to this House and give this House a report on the GROW Project,” Among.

Pakwach district woman MP Jane Pacuto commended Speaker Among for being a good and listening leader to the women of Uganda, by leading the call on clarification of the GROW Project.

She decried the stringent conditions commercial banks have imposed on the women entrepreneurs including, demands for land title and requirement for them to avail photos of them standing next to their husbands before qualifying for the funds, wondering if the funds are only meant for the married women in Uganda.

“Most of the women have complained that when they go to the Banks where these funds have been directed to, they are being asked for collateral in the form of land and not only land, but they are going ahead to say that the land must have a building and they must produce evidence that they own the land. Other than that, some are being asked to take photos together with their husbands, we are wondering whether GROW is meant for only legally married women and yet there are very many women out there, not married,” added Pacuto.