Denis Hamson Obua, the government Chief Whip addressing residents of Alebtong during awareness creation on PDM, Emyooga. Photo by Simon Eluk
By Simon Eluk
Alebtong
The Government has so far injected shs74.1b to support the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga program beneficiaries in the Lango sub-region.
Both PDM and Emyooga programms were designed to improve household income and rescue people trapped in a subsistence economy.
Lango sub-region has 624 parishes and according to Denis Hamson Obua, the government Chief Whip, the sub-region has received shs62.8b under PDM and shs11.76b for 21 constituencies under Emyooga, making a sum of shs74.5b.
Susan Alum, a beneficiary of the Parish Development Model in Amugu Sub County, Alebtong district, said the PDM program restored her lost hope of generating household income through farming.
Alum received shs1m under the program and used 40,000 shillings to open a sunflower garden, buy seeds, and expected to get a good yield and earn shs1m.
However, Alum realized even better yields and harvested 25 bags of sunflowers from which she expected to earn shs2m, instead of the shs1m she had predicted.
“The price is still low at only 1,550 shillings per kilogram, but I am still waiting when it shoots to 2,000 shillings then I sell,” Alum said.
Peter Owani, another beneficiary from Nakabela ward in Alebtong Town council, said he planted onions and, expects to harvest 2,000 kilograms and earn shs3m from it.
Two years ago, President Yoweri Museveni launched the PDM program with its objective to increase production across the value chain, support interventions for food security, and improve the incomes of households.
Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development (MoFPED), recently revealed that the government had provided shs2.3trillion to 10,594 parishes since the program kicked off.
Speaking at Margaritha Palace Hotel in Lira City during local government regional budget consultative workshops organized by MoFPED, Kasaija said starting in the financial year 2024/2025, the government will strengthen the implementation strategy of all the seven pillars of PDM, so that implementation is consistent, and the goal of the program is attained.
“Ensuring operationalization of the other six pillars of PDM beyond the financial inclusion. This is the micro-level tool that ties up government efforts at the grassroots levels,” Kasaija said.
Shs50m illegal payment recovered
Alex Ogwal Adyebo, the Kwania district chairperson, said although the PDM program is good, it is bogged by challenges such as multiple payments, corruption, extortion of money from the beneficiaries, poor data collection, and enrolment of implementers’ relatives and friends as beneficiaries.
“As a leader, these are the challenges I have identified during our monitoring and I think it should be corrected and people see the impact,” Ogwal said.
Ogwal said he had discovered multiple payments in eight parishes in the district and had recovered shs50m.
Kwania district has 49 parishes and has received shs5.2b under the program.
However, Ogwal cited that in Owiny parish, he recovered shs9b, Aro-anga shs12b, Ojok Dok shs8m, Banya shs5m, Agwiciri shs7m, including three other parishes.
“We found the biggest problem with the SACCO executive. A number of them don’t have computer skills and what they did was to hire people who ended up messing up the process by sending money to themselves and close relatives,” Ogwal said.
“These people [executives] also became selfish in appraisal and selecting the beneficiaries without involving the loan committee,” he added.
Youth abusing the money
Ogwal said despite the challenges there is some little impact, especially among women and few responsible men.
He lauded President Yoweri Museveni and his government for coming out with the program to send money directly to the parishes.
“I subscribe to Uganda People Congress but I want to thank President Museveni for the initiative because this is not like other programs which ended up in the district and failed,” Ogwal said.
But, Ogwal said: “The worst category of people who abuse money are the youth. It’s not the government now.”
He said several youths receive the money and use it for buying mattresses, and radios, adding a second wife, and buying household items.
“One of them [youth] received 600, 000 shillings and started luring the Principal commercial officer into a relationship, but I rebuked him to stop that nonsense,” Ogwal revealed.
Bob Oluk, the Alebtong District Commercial Officer, said they so far received shs6.9b, supported 1,122 enterprise groups, and are registering more to benefit.
“Right now as we recruit people for the next disbursement, we asking group members to eliminate people known to be loan defaulters and multiple loan borrowers but pick those who will afford to pay back so that others can also benefit,” he warned.
Geoffrey Ocen, the Amolatar LC5 chairperson, also lauded President Museveni but asked for a little adjustment for the program to succeed.
Ocen said the district is facing some challenges in the implementation of PDM, such as the technical team conniving with SACCO leaders to swindle the money.
He cited an incident in Aputi Sub County where money was disbursed to ghost beneficiaries and a mentally ill person.
