KOLE – The Kole North Member of Parliament in Kole district, Dr. Samuel Opio Acuti has appealed to government to facilitate parish chiefs and SACCO leaders for effective implementation of the Parish Development Model [PDM] activities in the district.
Opio claimed that government officials are spending their own money on household assessment, data collection, and transport yet the PDM is a government programme.
He said some of the PDM groups have had to facilitate the parish chiefs and other officials in order to be worked on, much as government the groups are not supposed to give any money to the officials under the programme.
“The PDM SACCO group members have had to raise money to facilitate the parish chiefs with fuel for household assessment,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. Kole district received over Shs 2 billion for PDM beneficiaries in 26 parishes.
Under the programme launched in February 2022, each parish of the 10,594 parishes in Uganda are supposed to receive Shs 100 million each financial year for five years, beginning with the financial year 2022/2023.
Opio also said that besides lack of facilitation, PDM SACCO leaders are being denied the opportunity to apply for the loan since they are not eligible to benefit from the programme that mainly promotes commercial production in the agricultural value chain.
He also said most of the registered PDM beneficiary in Kole district have not received the funds. “Some people in Kole district are not happy because PDM beneficiaries in other districts in the country have already received the money,” Opio said.
The concern is contained in Opio’s oversight report on the implementation of the programme in Kole North Constituency.
Opio said the majority of the SACCO groups have completed the loan application process, household assessment and are at the stage of bank account opening.
Two months ago, several districts launched the disbursement of PDM funds to the beneficiaries, a program targeting to move 3.5 million people trapped in subsistence farming to the money economy through commercial agriculture.
The government intends to spend over One billion shillings each financial year on the programme, targeting enterprises like coffee, bananas, dairy farming, piggery, poultry keeping, beekeeping, grain, and cereals among others.
https://thecooperator.news/excitement-as-kole-launches-disbursement-of-pdm-funds/
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