By Isaac Akugizibwe

KIU Main Campus - Driven by the urge to fight poverty in his home village of Kitagwenda, Moses Tumwine, the speaker of the 2017/18 Guild Union parliament, is truly walking the talk. He has spent the last two years mobilising to improve household incomes of his people.

Moses has not only been mobilising people but also teaching them different tactics they can use to grow their household earning. He says that his main emphasis is telling people how natural resources can be utilised.

"I started by telling people about the fruits of coming together in order to improve our financial status through utilising the available resources," said Moses.

He based his initiative on the fact that Kitagwenda, his homeland is endowed with various natural resources like gold, limestone, lake George, Kibale National park and fertile soils that can support agriculture, yet 75% of the people still live below the poverty line of one dollar per day.

"I discovered my district of Kitagwenda has 75% of her people below the poverty line of one dollar per day yet it is endowed with various natural resources like gold, limestone, rivers, forests, lakes and forests which people can utilize," he explained.

He added that,"people are in absolute poverty because they are not utilizing these resources. "

The former legislator has so far inspired many youths and women to embrace saving and establishing investment clubs, small scale enterprises and corporations. This has led to the founding of nine youth saving groups and six women investment and saving groups. Moses' concerted initiative gave him confidence to win the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Operation Wealth Creation.

"We convinced the Ministry of Agriculture and Operation Wealth Creation to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Kitagwenda and Kamwenge people as their main service providers specifically in maize, coffee seedlings and oranges," he narrated. 

He has also attracted the attention of World Food Program which is currently carrying out a six months quality test in order to establish the possibility of a partnership.

Much as he is seeing the goal almost at hand, Moses has no room for complacency. He is using radio and churches to emphasize his cause.

"I am previleged that voice of Kamwenge gave us time on Sundays to always spread the gospel of intelligence," Moses admitted.

He attributed his exploits to KIU which he says gave him the knowledge of community empowerment and resource mobilisation. He admits that the university exposed him through field tours, student engagements and leadership forums like the students union in which he served as Guild Speaker and Member of Parliament representing the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.