PDM: Only 29 per cent of the parish SACCOS (175) in Lango sub-region received the full Shs17 million in 2021/2022 while 25 per cent of the SACCOs (145) did not receive any money, Parliamentary PDM report has revealed.
On Wednesday March 29th 2023, Parliament commenced scrutinising sub-regional oversight reports on the Parish Development Model (PDM) with Lango sub region (Lango, Acholi West Nile) being the first to table their findings.
In a report presented by Kole North County Member of Parliament, Hon. Samuel Opio Acuti on behalf of legislators from Lango, discrepancies were noted in the funds disbursed to various Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs) in the Financial Year 2021/2022.
Lango sub-region registered 597 parish SACCOs of which 277 SACCOs received less than the expected amount. However, 582 SACCOs in Lango sub region have so far received Shs25 million, while 15 did not receive any money.
This has been attributed to errors in their account names and numbers while some were not recognised by the Finance Ministry as parishes.
Opio said that failure by the ministry to release all the funds in line with Cabinet’s decision has created mistrust in the population about the intended purpose of the PDM programme.
He also noted that none of the parish SACCOs has disbursed funds to the beneficiaries. The new processes and guidelines including pilots which have emerged from various PDM implementers and subsequently have delayed the disbursement processes.
“The delay in allowing SACCOs to disburse the funds coupled with the changing dates for roll out has resulted in loss of confidence in the programme,” he said.
The report urged the ministry to pay arrears and outstanding payments from the two financial years to the respective SACCOs before the end of June 2023.
By the end of the Financial Year 2022/2023, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development is expected to disburse Shs100 million to each registered SACCO with Shs25 million expected to be released in every quarter of the financial year.
The PDM programme targets 39 per cent of households which are still in subsistence farming, with the objective of enabling them to increase agricultural productivity and value addition through access to a revolving fund at affordable rates.
The House will today Thursday, 30 March 2023 receive other sub-regional reports from the Eastern (Bukedi, Busoga, Bugisu, Teso, Karamoja, Sebei), Central (Buganda), Western (Ankole, Kigezi, Bunyoro, Rwenzori, Tooro) and subsequently debate them.
President Yoweri Museveni on 16th March 2023, while addressing Parliament warned Government officials to desist from the temptation of mismanaging the Sh1.5 trillion Parish Revolving Fund (PRF) under the Parish Development Model (PDM) that is meant as seed capital for a section of Ugandans trapped in the subsistence economy.
Government in the 2022/2023 financial year, allocated Sh100m for each of the 10,594 Parishes across the country to support the aforementioned Ugandans to engage in commercially viable agribusiness value chain enterprises.
Parliament of Uganda
Centralupdates31@gmail.com
