TORORO – Tororo County North Member of Parliament Geoffrey Ekanya has asked members from the opposition parties to rally behind the implementation of government programmes meant to improve the lives of the people.
Ekanya who subscribes to the opposition political party Forum for Democratic Change [FDC] said whereas leaders may disagree on political ideologies, issues to do with wealth creation should be a uniting factor.
He added that poverty or money does not know political parties and their colours and that leaders irrespective of the political parties they subscribe to should encourage the people to participate in poverty alleviation programmes
MP Ekanya made his observations on Sunday at Aturukuku Primary School in Tororo Municipality during a sensitisation meeting for the Parish Development Model [PDM].
“We may differ on party ideologies but when it comes to wealth creation, we have to come together, after all, the money for the PDM is part of the taxes we [Ugandans] pay,” he said.
He also warned the locals against unnecessary spending, advising them to save for the future.
Meanwhile, like Ekanya, the Minister of State for Defence who doubles as the MP for West Budama Central, Jacob Oboth-Oboth [National Resistance Movement] also encouraged the locals to save for future investments.
He said some people in Tororo district have multiple assets that can’t earn them incomes.
“You need to convert the assets into investments that can earn you income in order to eliminate poverty and graduate to the projected middle-income status,” the minister noted.
He cautioned the PDM beneficiary enterprise groups never to be excited with the money they will receive, saying they must work hard and refund it for others to use.
“This is a loan meant to benefit everybody and any mismanagement will earn you imprisonment. This money is not meant to facilitate your party events like; marriage ceremonies, Christmas parties, or graduation ceremonies among others,” he warned.
Meanwhile, the Tororo municipality Member of Parliament, Yeri Apollo Ofwono urged locals to embrace the PDM and asked them to report cases of government officials and other individuals asking for kickbacks to recruit people for the programme.
He urged the enterprise groups to engage in value addition for agricultural products since they don’t have enough land to engage in large-scale agricultural production.
During stakeholders’ engagement meetings, Members of Parliament noted that most of the parishes in the district are big and moreover with high population numbers.
They called for Tororo to be considered for affirmative action, saying the Shs 100 million to be given to each parish in Uganda under the PDM is not enough.
Meanwhile, the locals raised concerns over the continuous deduction in disbursements of funds, citing an incidence where the disbursement of funds for members of the village SACCO has been reduced from the initial Shs 17mln to now Shs 9.2mln.
According to Methuselah Oloka, the town clerk Western Division in Tororo Municipality, the piecemeal disbursement of the funds is due to budget cuts from the central government, which the official said affects their indicative planning figures.
https://thecooperator.news/kcca-officials-queried-over-delayed-release-of-pdm-money/
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