Apac parish chiefs held over sabotaging PDM

APAC – Police at Apac Central Police Station are holding in custody two parish chiefs for allegedly sabotaging the Parish Development Programme [PDM], a government programme launched over a year ago to fight household poverty in the country.

Maxwell Odur, the parish chief of Awila and his colleague Geoffrey Ocepa attached to Ayeolyec parish all in Akokoro Sub-county, Apac district were arrested on Saturday and whisked to Apac Central Police Station where they are currently being detained as investigations into the allegations continue.

The arrest follows the orders of George Abudul, the Apac resident district commissioner shortly after meeting all the parish chiefs in the district during an engagement meeting at Apac Scouts Hall.

The two officials are being accused of incapacitating and preaching negatively about the PDM meant to fight household poverty for five years in 10,594 parishes in Uganda, with the government committed to spend over  Shs 1 trillion each financial year on the programme expected to boost commercial production, especially in agriculture.

Addressing journalists shortly after the arrest, Abudul said the accused failed to present statistics of beneficiaries of the program from their respective parishes and were preaching against PDM.

“We arrested two parish chiefs because they failed to collect data of the targeted PDM beneficiaries in their respective parishes. They were continuously asking their counterparts and the community to help them de-campaign the PDM initiative. What they did is sabotage of the government programme and is totally unacceptable,” he said.

Abudul expressed fear that Akokoro Sub-county residents may not receive the PDM funds in time. “At the moment, out of the 450 people lined up to receive PDM money during the launch slated for June 30, 2023, Akokoro Sub-county does not have even a single beneficiary,” he said.

Apac district police commander, David Wills Nadula says the matter is under investigation.

“We are investigating circumstances under which the duos decided to neglect their duties and started preaching against PDM,” he said, adding that once investigations are complete, the detained parish chiefs shall be arraigned in courts of law.

Grandbil Omonda, Apac chief administrative officer said once the police investigations are complete, disciplinary actions shall be taken against the two officials. “The two parish chiefs will be called before the district reward and sanction committee and asked to resign in case they are found guilty of the offence,” Omonda told this reporter on Saturday.

By press time, the two officials were still in custody at Apac Central Police Station.

Recently, the Minister for Presidency, Milly Babalanda directed all the resident district commissioners [RDCs] in the country to apprehend public servants found sabotaging the implementation the PDM whereby each parish is supposed to get Shs 100 million every year for income generating activities such piggery, dairy farming, poultry keeping, and fish farming among others.

Talking to theCooperator in Kampala, Babalanda said she directed the RDCs to arrest and prosecute public officers found sabotaging the novel government programme following reports that several beneficiaries of the programme are experiencing challenges in trying to access the funds among other several impediments.

The PDM, a government approach to wealth creation and poverty alleviation was launched in February 2022 by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in Kibuku district, eastern Uganda.

With seven pillars: Production, Storage, Processing and Marketing; Infrastructure and Economic Services; Financial Inclusion; Social Service; Mindset Change; Parish Based Management Information System; Governance and Administration, the programme intends to lift 17.5mln Ugandans in 3.5mln households from the subsistence economy to the money economy.

https://thecooperator.news/minister-babalanda-orders-rdcs-to-arrest-officials-failing-pdm/

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