Kenzo Considers Resignation from Federation Presidency over SACCO Money

Musician Eddy Kenzo has threatened to resign from the Presidency of the Uganda National Musicians Federation (UNMF).

He said he will consider resigning and leaving the position because of the Ministry of Finance’s plan to prevent the Federation from handling artistes’ SACCO Money.

According to Kenzo, the ministry feels that the Federation is not supposed to be in charge of doling out SACCO money to artistes, and as a result, the ministry would like to give the money directly to SACCOs.

The government last year allocated 5 billion shillings to the UNMF.

During an address to stakeholders from the music industry at Speke Resort Munyonyo last month, President Museveni pledged UGX 10–20 billion annually to UNMF regional SACCOs to support musicians.

“There’s a lot of Pressure between me, the Federation leadership, and the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. Out of respect, I cannot continue with such confusion arising from the management of UNMF SACCO Funds. When I come back from Acholi sub-region, I will resign as Federation President and maybe you will appoint someone you like,” he said in a recent Live Podcast.

He further said that losing the responsibility to manage SACCO funds means that the Federation is no longer useful to artistes.

“How can artistes’ SACCO Money be given to different associations without the knowledge of the Federation. This means that we will lose the monopoly of managing the SACCO, which was designed to manage all artistes’ money in the different associations around Uganda,” he said.

He added that the move is a ploy by his enemies who are fighting his main mission and vision to bring Ugandan artistes and creatives together to fight for common goals like Unity, copyright law amendment, and professionalism among other issues