Kumi district kicks off disbursing funds to PDM SACCOs

KUMI – Kumi district has started the disbursement of the Shs 4.5 billion to different SACCOs registered under the Parish Development Model [PDM], with a warning to the beneficiaries against mismanagement of the funds.

The Kumi district production officer, who is the PDM district focal point person, Rajab Ogogol, confirmed the development yesterday, saying the Shs 4.5bln is to be disbursed to 140 PDM SACCOs that have been approved by the district for funding.

He explained that the 140 SACCOs are drawn from the three counties of Kumi, Kanyum, and Kumi Municipality, comprising 1,122 enterprise groups.

As per the allocation, Ogogol said the SACCOs will receive Shs 32 million each.

He said that so far eight SACCOs from the wards of Mukongoro Town Council and Akibui parish in Atutur Sub County have been cleared to receive the funds after fulfilling the requirements needed for them to access the cash from their bank accounts.

The eight SACCOs that have already received funding met the PDM implementation guidelines as holding the General Meeting ([AGM] and registration with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives [MTIC].

“We have taken time to ensure that we disburse the cash to those PDM SACCOs that have registration certificates from the registrar of cooperatives, have evidence of the Annual General Meeting [AGM] minutes and training of members and have a copy of certified resolutions appointing signatories to the bank account,” Ogogol said.

The money, according to Ogogol, was sent directly to the mobile money accounts of the beneficiaries through Centenary Bank, Post Bank and Finance Trust Bank.

“Depositing cash to direct to the beneficiaries’ mobile money accounts and bank accounts is to avoid delay in using the money as well as avoiding corruption, which has marred the programme in the recent past,” Ogogol explained.

David Odeke, the chairperson Odedei Ward PDM SACCO in Mukongoro Town Council, who received Shs 1 million applauded the district leadership for expediting the disbursement of the money to the beneficiaries.

“We have waited to receive PDM cash for close to eight months in vain but we are very happy that money has finally been disbursed,” said Odeke.

Odeke says he will invest the Shs1mln he has received to boost his poultry project, which he said is currently staggering.

He is optimistic that the programme [PDM] will help alleviate poverty in Uganda since its being implemented at the parish level.

However, Kumi resident district commissioner, Ahmed Washaki cautioned the beneficiaries against misuse of the funds, saying that any form of corruption or misuse shall be severely punished.

He emphasised that the PDM cash is not a handout from government to the beneficiaries, but a revolving fund to be used in the fight against poverty.

According to him, the members shall apply for the loan from PDM SACCO through their enterprise group at an interest rate of 6 percent per annual for the financial year 2022/2023.

“The money should be used for lending to viable income income-generating activities in production, processing, marketing, and storage in agriculture among others,” Washaki advised.

He further called upon the coordinators of PDM at all levels and political leaders to mobilize the communities to benefit from the program in order to increase production and productivity in both on-farm and off-farm value chain activities for profit.

The PDM was launched by President Yoweri Museveni in February 2022, aiming at uplifting 3.5 million households still in the subsistence economy to the money economy.

The PDM has seven pillars; processing and marketing, infrastructure and economic service, financial inclusion, mindset change, parish-based information management systems, social services, and government and administration.

In the current financial year, 2022/23, the government appropriated about Shs 1 trillion for the PDM expected to focus more on agricultural enterprises such as coffee, beans, maize, dairy farming, and poultry keeping among others.

https://thecooperator.news/museveni-warns-officials-against-mismanaging-pdm-money/

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