Janet Museveni: Why we Need to Cultivate a Culture of Saving
Minister of Education and Sports, First Lady Janet Kataaha Museveni, has encouraged Ugandans to cultivate a culture of saving and desist from unhealthy competition that leads them into the vicious cycle of poverty and misery.
In her weekly online chat box, Janet calls for financial discipline in terms of expenditure and saving, regardless how big or small they start.
“It is wise to learn the discipline of saving whatever one gets right from an early age. The discipline takes root as one saves and implements their projects within their means. In doing so, one does not become attracted to borrowing or corruption,” Janet said.
Using the saving culture of Indians, Mrs Museveni advised people to start saving at an early age and invest in projects that have return on investments.
“You can decide to save for a project that you want to do in future. Perhaps, a house you want to build or a family you want to begin. Whatever it is that you would like to do, start by saving for it,” she said.
Janet also advised people against unnecessary borrowing to finance activities, but rather encourages them to save in order to finance their activities.
“Sometimes, I think that it is this unhealthy competition that forces people to go into borrowing money with no plan of how to pay back. Then a debt leads to another bigger debt. When the debts grow into a heap, you know you will never be able to pay them off. People are then forced into selling-off the only valuable item they ever owned. Sometimes, that valuable item is a piece of land that one may have inherited from their family,” Janet said, adding that such unhealthy competition tantamount to corruption.
“When that valuable item is no more, then the person becomes desperate. If such a person has a job or is employed, then, unfortunately, the desperation drives them into corruption. They believe that they will get back what they lost in debt by taking what does not belong to them,” she said.
Below is Janet’s full piece on the “Culture of Saving”
Hello Guys!
It is a brand-new week. We rise to praise our God and give Him thanks, lifting all honor and glory to Him in spite of what the enemy has been trying to do - to fight our peace and quiet in the country. But we trust in the Almighty God and our peace is from Him.
Today, the topic of our discussion is, “Cultivating a Culture of Saving.” I know the pessimists will quickly come up with a question, “Saving what? We do not have any money. How can you talk about saving?” Well, I am not only an optimist, but I am also a believer in a God who said that He will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory because He is the source of wealth. Therefore, I must talk about building a culture of saving in Uganda. This is a discipline that starts early and small.
One must make up their mind to take a percentage of what they earn and save it. You can decide to save for a project that you want to do in future. Perhaps, a house you want to build or a family you want to begin. Whatever it is that you would like to do, start by saving for it.
I would like to share with you a short story I learned about how Indians save. I was told that when Indian families first came to Uganda, they used to build houses for their families using iron sheets as material for the walls and roofing. An entire family would live in this shelter. Then they would start trading in whatever products they could sell. The money earned would then be kept by the mother – all of it; not just some of it. Slowly as the money multiplies, they start by building a shop for the family. One shop for the family - it does not matter how many they were in the family. They would live in that one shop until the money has multiplied enough to build another shop for the brother, and then the son, and so on and so forth; until each one of them has their own shop. All this time, the money is kept by the mother so that the whole family agrees to do one project at a time. They used savings from earnings from the work they did together.
Therefore, that shows that the family is solid and united in what they do. Their resources come from what they all contribute to serve. This made me wonder whether, perhaps, our culture in Africa of how we go about doing things is the cause of failure to save. Even family members have unhealthy competition amongst themselves.
Sometimes, I think that it is this unhealthy competition that forces people to go into borrowing money with no plan of how to pay back. Then a debt leads to another bigger debt. When the debts grow into a heap, you know you will never be able to pay them off. People are then forced into selling-off the only valuable item they ever owned. Sometimes, that valuable item is a piece of land that one may have inherited from their family. When that valuable item is no more, then the person becomes desperate. If such a person has a job or is employed, then, unfortunately, the desperation drives them into corruption. They believe that they will get back what they lost in debt by taking what does not belong to them.
Therefore, to try to avoid this kind of scenario, it is wise to learn the discipline of saving whatever one gets right from an early age. The discipline takes root as one saves and implements their projects within their means. In doing so, one does not become attracted to borrowing or corruption.
That is my wish and prayer for all of you, my loved ones.
Maama
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