AMOLATAR-A total of 85 Parish Development Model SACCOs [PDM SACCOs] in Amolatar district have so far received Shs 4 billion released in the first and second quarter of the current financial year.
The district PDM focal point person, Ambrose Oyengo disclosed the development during the launch of the disbursement of the funds on Thursday at Amolatar Boma Ground.
He said out of 85 PDM SACCO, there are 1,326 enterprise groups and 29,405 members ready to actively engage in commercial production, which President Museveni says will create 70 million jobs countrywide but also create wealth.
He added that 55 PDM SACCOs received Shs 57mln each, 28 got Shs 32mln each while Aciji Alwala PDM SACCO and Akwon PDM SACCOs are yet to be cleared.
“We have many people in our system but I want to assure the public that we shall continue to clear them until it is completed,” Oyengo said.
The district LC5 chairperson, Geoffrey Ocen Kiling commended President Yoweri Museveni for giving villagers money for production, especially through commercial agriculture.
He advised people to properly use the money received pay back since it is a revolving fund targeting the active poor in the country.
The resident district commissioner, Francis Okello Rwotlonyo thanked the government to ensure that the programme reached the beneficiaries.
“As a representative of the government, I am here to confirm that the funds have reached the beneficiaries, especially the active poor in the villages,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ocen wants government to provide operation funds for the PDM and reduce bureaucracy in filling the forms if the programme is to succeed.
According to Ocen, a poor man in the village cannot fill a form of 25 pages. He called on the PDM secretariat to revise it. “There is rigorous process of getting this money whereby the beneficiaries have to fill form and staff working without facilitation is not correct,” he said on Tuesday at his office.
He said the PDM forms should not have more than five pages to simplify the process. He added that the process of getting the money is IT based but the beneficiaries don’t have computer knowledge.
The Amolatar district LC5 boss said the core team [parish chiefs] need to be facilitated with transport and computers to enter beneficiaries’ information into the IT system.
“Financial inclusion system cannot work without IT equipment, the parish cannot work without being facilitated,” he said, adding that failure to facilitate those doing the PDM work could lead to corruption.
The PDM, launched in February 2022, aims at transforming 3.5mln households in Uganda from a subsistence economy to a money economy with government prepared to spend about Shs 1 trillion every financial year, beginning with the current one, as it targets about 10, 594 parishes.
According to government, each parish should receive Shs 100 million each financial year, even though President Museveni hinted recently that the money for the parishes could be increased further if the programme works well.
https://thecooperator.news/pdm-media-urged-to-play-critical-role/
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