KWANIA, October 3, 2023 – Police at Kwania Central Police Station days ago detained four leaders and members of Aornga PDM SACCO in Nambieso Sub-county over the allegation of mismanagement of the PDM funds.
Those detained included Charles Ongu Badu, the chairperson Aronga PDM SACCO, and his wife Harriet Adongo the SACCO treasurer, Denis Edong, the LCII chairperson Aornga parish and Jolly Abeja, the SACCO member.
The arrest of the suspects on Wednesday followed an operation led by Kwania Resident District Commissioner [RDC] Arikwanga, Richard Noon.
It is alleged that the suspects under the leadership of the SACCO chairperson received between Shs 2mln and Shs 3mln contrary to the PDM guidelines which stipulate that each household should receive Shs 1mln to invest in commercial agriculture such as growing coffee, bananas, macadamia, beans, dairy farming, fish farming, and piggery among others.
In the 2022/2023 financial year, the government disbursed Shs 5.2 billion to support the 49 PDM parish SACCOs in Kwania district.
According to the bank statement presented by Kwania District Principal Commercial Officer, Catharine Akello, out of a total Shs107million wired to the bank account of Aornga PDM SACCO, Shs 84 million was disbursed to the SACCO members; leaving Shs 23mln misappropriated.
RDC Arikwanga said police were still hunting for seven other suspects over the same allegation.
“We received a tipoff that one Sam Angulu who was operating the Wendi application wired more than Shs1m to his mother Concy Tino, Sam Angulu, Adolin Adoch, Moris Opio, Eric Ocen, Sarah Alobo and James Ogwang all members of the same SACCO and we are still hunting for mismanaging the PDM funds, “he said.
“We have managed to arrest the four people who doubled the money including the SACCO chairperson. We had to go through statements from the bank and we want to ascertain under what circumstance they get more than Shs1m. This money is supposed to benefit one household, Shs 1mln per household,” he said.
Charles Mugisha, the Kwania District Police Commander confirmed the arrest, saying a case of mismanagement of PDM fund would be preferred against the suspects once investigations are complete.
Kwanai district LCV chairman, Geoffrey Alex Ogwal Adyebo said the week-long operation aims at recovering all the PDM cash given to the ineligible people.
“Households who received more than Shs1m should refund back the money to the PDM SACCO account so that other poor households who missed also benefit, and people who received money from different parishes should equally do the same. It is not our wish that they are put in prison, but we intend to recover the money so that the eligible people benefit,” he said.
Members of Aornga PDM SACCO who missed the PDM cash welcomed the operation with excitement. Sarah Engom said, “I have tried to access this PDM money in vain. I want the accused to refund the money to the SACCO account so that we also benefit from the same.”
Another SACCO member Betty Acen, a resident of Ilera in Aornga parish said those mismanaging the PDM funds must be made to refund the money with hefty fines so that it serves as a lesson to those playing with the government money meant to improve the livelihood of the poor households.
The PDM was launched in February 2022 and aims at moving 3.5 million households stuck in the subsistence economy to the money economy, where each of the 10,594 parishes in Uganda is to receive Shs 100mln, beginning with the financial year 2022/2023. The proragmme runs for five years.
https://thecooperator.news/youth-in-kwania-spend-pdm-cash-on-smartphones-hoofers/
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