Civilians encouraged to save with Wazalendo as Army opens branch in Mbale City
Civilians have been encouraged to save with Wazalendo as the Uganda People’s Defense Forces open a new branch in Mbale.
The opening ceremony of the branch was held on Friday at the military base in Mbale and presided over by the Deputy Commander Air Forces Maj. Gen David Isimbwa.
The new branch is located along Mbale Tororo road opposite Total energies.
Isimbwa commended the commander in Chief Yoweri Museveni for the initiative to improve the welfare of the army.
He also noted that the military has now become more of people centric that in the early by having direct benefits to society.
Mbale’s Wazalendo branch is the 12th of the 19 branches a cross the country. And Maj. Gen. Isimbwa proudly noted that the Wazalendo of Uganda has been remarkable ranking fifth across the whole of Africa.
In his report, Brig Gen Joseph Freddy Onata. Chief Executive Officer of Wazalendo highlights the strides that the SACCO has achieved over time.
Brig. Gen Onata noted that the SACCO has secured the future of soldiers both senior and junior. He adds that the soldiers have become more productive and those who go into retirement have a fall back position of their savings.
Onata says what makes them unique is that their aim is to first satisfy the needs of their members.
He also asserts that the SACCO has a very clear strategic plan both short term and long-term.
Onata says Accountability, Teamwork and Transparency are some of the values that have made Wazalendo great.
Onata also says the SACCO should be used as a tool to grow others in the region. “SACCOs are cooperatives and cooperatives are institutions of self help , People helping people. So we are here for help SACCOs of this region to see how we can develop our people and make a contribution towards the transformation of lives of our people”.
He adds that the SACCO shall provide employment, revenue inform of taxes to Mbale City Council , Financial literacy through benchmarking to the locals in the area.
Gen.Onata revealed that they are working on guidelines to incorporate civilians into the SACCO. “We are working on the guidelines the civilians borrow and save with us.”
He noted that the structure of the branch costed a total of 471 million shillings.
Status Report for Wazalendo:
Onata revealed that the SACCO has over 100.000 members both military and civilians working with Ministry of Defense plus close relatives to the officers.
The SACCO has 19 branches with 12 fully operational with six outside the barracks namely Entebbe branch, Kampala Branch, Mbarara City, Fort Portal, Arua, Gulu and Moroto.
The capital as per Thursday 13th March 2025 is 295.2bn Uganda shillings.
Savings amount to 547.7bn shillings, retirement fund is equivalent to 497billion shillings.
Assets lie at 1.17 trillion Uganda shillings. Liabilities in savings 616bn, while equity and reserves are 560bn shillings.
