HOIMA CITY, July 29, 2026 — Two Parish Development Model Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations [PDM SACCOs] in Hoima district will repeat the election of their committee leaders following complaints from members over transparency and discrepancies in the leaders’ biodata.
The elections followed a recent directive from the PDM Secretariat for all PDM SACCOs across Uganda to hold fresh elections, a move aimed at addressing corruption and poor governance in the implementation of the government programme.
Under the PDM, beneficiaries receive soft loans of Shs 1 million through their parish SACCOs from government to invest in enterprises such as coffee, piggery, poultry, dairy, banana and fish farming, among several others.
According to Dr Charles Kajura, the Hoima District Senior Production Officer and PDM Focal Person, the district began electing committee leaders for its 55 PDM SACCOs in May, with the exercise concluding in mid-June.
Kajura said the elections were conducted smoothly and in accordance with the guidelines. However, following the exercise, members of two SACCOs reported concerns about some of the elected committee leaders.
The affected SACCOs are Kibanjwa PDM SACCO in Kitoba Town Council and Buraru PDM SACCO in Buraru Subcounty.
Kajura said members raised concerns about the transparency of the chairpersons who had been elected, citing poor governance in the affected SACCOs.
He added that members also complained that the biodata of some of the elected leaders did not match the information in the Parish Development Model Information System [PDMIS].
“When the members reported the issues, the district investigated and discovered that their complaints were genuine. We annulled the committees and are planning to hold fresh elections for members to vote for leaders they believe will manage the SACCOs to their expectations,” Kajura said.
However, he said the development could delay the submission of the SACCO resolutions to the Registrar of Cooperatives for approval, as the resolutions for all 55 PDM SACCOs are expected to be filed at the same time.
“The SACCO resolution contains the names of three members who are signatories to the SACCO account,” he explained.
Kajura urged the SACCO members to remain patient, saying the Hoima district leaders were doing everything required to ensure the two SACCOs hold fresh elections soon and that their resolutions filed on time.
He said this would enable members to access the funds in time to prepare for the second agricultural season.
Hoima District Chairman Uthuman Mubarac Mugisha welcomed the decision to repeat the elections, saying mismanagement of PDM funds is often linked to poor leadership.
Mugisha said the first phase of the programme faced several challenges, including funds being given to people who were not beneficiaries and some beneficiaries receiving only half of the Shs1 million they were entitled to.
He added that the reported cases were followed up, suspects were arrested and forced to refund the money to the rightful beneficiaries.
“We do not want such problems to resurface,” Mugisha said.
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