MASAKA-A total of 367 Parish Development Model SACCOs [PDM SACCOs] in the Greater Masaka region have received over Shs 22 billion, officials say.
Greater Masaka comprises districts of Kalangala, Lyantonde, Kalungu, Lwengo, Bukomansimbi, Masaka, Sembabule, Rakai, Kyotera, and Masaka City, and have all had money deposited on the PDM SACCO accounts.
During a recent meeting for local governments to review progress of the PDM programme in the area, the policy analyst at the PDM Secretariat, Patrick Mutoni said 367 of the 415 PDM SACCOs formed in the region have been capitalised.
However, Mutoni urged the local leaders to assist the parish chiefs in identifying the genuine beneficiaries of the programme.
He said some of the PDM beneficiaries in the region have already received the revolving funds while others are yet to get after irregularities were discovered on the lists of the targeted beneficiaries.
For instance, Masaka City already received Shs 802 million for the 25 PDM SACCOs in the divisions of Kimanya-Kabonera and Nyendo-Mukungwe but the disbursement of the funds was halted after the names of rich people were discovered on the lists of the beneficiaries.
Masaka City PDM focal person, Sheila Akello said they have started re-visiting all the parishes in Masaka city to scrutinise all the PDM beneficiary lists so that they retain only those who are subsisting and that the funds will be disbursed to them soon.
More, authorities in Lwengo district halted the disbursement of the PDM funds in the parishes of Katovu and Malongo after some of the village chairmen and parish chiefs reportedly connived to include rich people on the list of the beneficiaries, leaving out the poor.
Lwengo district has 45 parishes with a total of 1012 households that have already been prepared to receive the PDM revolving funds.
Meanwhile, the district commercial officers and production officers who are acting as PDM focal persons have complained of being poorly facilitated to do the job assigned to them.
Kyotera district DPM focal person, John Lutaaya said the district has 66 parishes, with some considered as hard-to-reach, and yet the district has not received the ICT gadgets for data entry.
However, the district chairpersons who attended the meeting, led by Masaka district LC5 chairman, Andrew Batemyeto, called upon the PDM Secretariat to recruit more staff, staff allowances, motorcycles and vehicles if the programme is to run smoothly.
https://thecooperator.news/emyooga-saccos-in-masaka-region-get-extra-seed-capital-of-shs-6bln/
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