GULU, October 23, 2023 – Parish chiefs in Gulu district could retain their jobs based on their performance in the implementation of the Parish Development Model [PDM] if the suggestion by Christopher Opio Ateker, the district LCV chairperson, is implemented.
Gulu District Local Government recently recruited 32 new parish chiefs in order to boost the implementation of the PDM, bringing the total number of the parish officers to 42.
Chairman Opio’s directive comes at a time when the overall disbursement of the funds targeting the 39 percent poor Ugandans rate in the district is at 41 percent.
A total of 5, 025 households are being targeted to benefit from the government programme which seeks to help the active poor Ugandans move from the subsistence to the money economy.
By October 15, 2023, 2,077 households in Gulu had received the 1 million shillings to run income generating activities in the agriculture sector such as production of coffee, bananas, fruits, grains as well as embracing dairy farming, piggery, fish farming, beekeeping, and poultry keeping among others.
Opio said his office continues to receive allegations that parish chiefs are involved in corruption, and lack computer knowledge, which he added is affecting the progress of the disbursement of funds to the targeted beneficiaries.
He said that in order to ensure all the parish chiefs recruited are up to the task, they must prove by ensuring all the identified and approved beneficiaries receive their PDM money promptly.
Citing an example of one of the parish chiefs from Bungatira Subcounty, who is under investigation for allegedly collecting Shs 10,000 from each of the PDM beneficiaries who received the money, Opio said several complaints have come up against the parish chiefs who will receive an extra monthly allowance of Shs 100,000 so as to perform better.
“We have some parish chiefs who are including the elderly in the category of the youth. Such people who are showing their incompetence should not be confirmed unless they show they can change,” Opio said.
Stephen Ocira, a resident of Awach central in Gulu district claimed some of the parish are responsible for the slow disbursement of the PDM funds to the beneficiaries.
According to him, some of the parish chiefs are computer illiterate. He also supported the idea of confirming the government employees based on their performance.
“Already, some of the parish chiefs are showing signs of incompetency. Sometimes you wonder about the recruitment process in the district. In this era, we have people who struggle to use technology and are recruited to administer programmes that require relevant knowledge,” he said.
Through the PDM launched in February 2022, government hopes to move 3.5mln households still in the subsistence economy to the money economy by giving Shs 100mln to each of the 10,594 parishes in Uganda every financial year as a revolving fund from which the beneficiaries can borrow from cheaply and pay back.
https://thecooperator.news/rdc-threatens-to-arrest-pdm-beneficiaries-over-diverting-money/
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