Ibanda: Civil servants warned over misuse of PDM funds

IBANDA – The Parish Development Model [PDM] deputy national coordinator, Jovrine Kaliisa has warned technocrats and beneficiaries of the programme, saying that any misuse of the funds, will cause them to be prosecuted in courts of law.

While launching the disbursement of parish revolving funds at Post Bank Ibanda Branch, Kaliisa reiterated the need for all Ugandans to embrace such socio-economic transformation programmes. “Our targeted group is 39 percent of the population who have been working but they have not been saving in banks,” she said.

Kaliisa encouraged the district production officers and parish chiefs to monitor and evaluate enterprise projects presented for implementation by the different groups.

“The parish systems have been working, and your job as technical people is more of monitoring and evaluation. This is an economic war that we must fight together as Ugandans to secure the future,” she said.

Kaliisa warned to deal with any technocrat who will ask for a bribe from PDM beneficiaries in exchange for a service.

“CAO and your team you must respect the beneficiaries. Give them time and explain so that they understand the mission of PDM. Each of your departments has a budget, so nobody should charge office fees or ledger cards. Align your budgets strategically to make sure that the 39 percent of the population also join the rest of the people who are in the money economy,” she said.

Kaliisa also warned beneficiaries to have a positive attitude towards the PDM and appealed to leaders to continue sensitising the masses about the programme.

This negative attitude of people saying the PDM is not going to work should stop. If we start playing around with the programme, it will collapse,” she warned.

Kaliisa said the secretariat has put in place a rapid response unit to monitor all transactions from the local to national level and requested the banks partnering with government in PDM to provide SACCOs with gadgets which beneficiaries can use to communicate effectively.

“As a bank, you are our partners. Your job is not to see money lying idle in the accounts. You should make sure that beneficiaries are withdrawing the money and depositing it.

Sam Kacuucu, Post Bank Manager Ibanda said they had established PDM focal desk to serve the beneficiaries.

“We shall ensure that there’s a contact person available for effective interaction with local communities in the language they understand,” Kacuucu said.

Ibanda district has so far confirmed four SACCOs as the first beneficiaries out of the 40 SACCOs registered in the district.

According to Denis Atuhairwe, the senior commercial officer, Ibanda district has 786 enterprise groups with 13002 beneficiaries. 58 percent of the beneficiaries are women.

A total of Shs 1.39 billion has been allocated to Ibanda district for PDM SACCOs.

In other districts, PDM was launched in Kayunga, Sheema, Kibuku among others with the intention of getting 39 percent of Ugandans into the money economy.

https://thecooperator.news/masindi-pdm-saccos-to-access-money-next-year/

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