Uganda:Finance Minister suggests poor citizens be beaten to work harder

The Ugandan Micro-Finance Minister, Haruna Kasolo, has stated that “lazy-poor” citizens be given strokes to work hard and become rich, local media reported.

He was said to be speaking while addressing members of the religious sect in Kayunga District.

According to the Eye Radio, the minister suggested that parliament must pass a law to beat the less fortunate class into acquiring wealth.
“In future, government could pass a law in parliament whereby all the lazy-poor people would be given strokes so that they can also learn to work and become rich because we have discovered that some Ugandans need to be punished into wealth acquisition,” he said, as quoted by Daily Monitor.

Minister Haruna was further quoted to have stated that; “President Museveni and the ruling NRM government have put in place poverty eradication programs with the intention of making Ugandans rich, but many are still adamant and have remained poor,”.

According to the World Bank report of May 11, 2023, there was little progress in poverty reduction in Uganda during much of the decade leading up to 2019-20. The report stated that numerous shocks not only reduced economic growth, hey also hampered the ability of households to increase their income.

The World Bank indicated that during the 2019-20 period, about 30% of Ugandans were poor, a percentage only slightly lower than 31% in 2012/13.