PDM: Shs 36mln mismanaged in Amolatar as lunatic among ghost beneficiaries

AMOLATAR – Police in Amolatar district are investigating the alleged mismanagement of Shs 36 million meant for the beneficiaries of the Parish Development Model [PDM].

The Amolatar district LC5 chairperson, Geoffrey Ocen said days ago the money was disbursed to ghost beneficiaries of the PDM in Aputi and Mutu sub-counties where a mentally ill person is claimed to be among those who received the money fraudulently.

Ocen said the district is facing some challenges in the implementation of the PDM, such as the technical team conniving with PDM SACCO leaders to fleece the money meant to help the poor fight poverty.

Ocen claimed that in Anywali parish, Aputi Sub-county, the community development officer [CDO]connived with PDM SACCO leaders and disbursed Shs 36mln to ghost beneficiaries, leaving out members who were properly vetted as beneficiaries of the programme.

“What was happening was that the parish chief for that parish doesn’t not have computer knowledge or smartphones. So, the CDO took that as an opportunity to manipulate the SACCO leaders and gave loans to people who were not even vetted for the programme [PDM],” he added, adding that the CDO and chairperson of Anywali Parish SACCO have been arrested.

“Even a mad person was one of the beneficiaries. Much as he has the national identity card, he has no knowledge about the PDM. We were wondering how he could be among the beneficiaries,” Ocen added.

He said the list of the 36 beneficiaries shows some PDM beneficiaries got Shs 800, 000, others Shs 900,000 while others person got Shs 1mln, although some were not profiled as beneficiaries of the programme.

“You find that in one family, five people have benefitted [father, mother, son and daughter]. These people were able to raise the money needed by the CDO, parish chief and other people,” Ocen alleged.

“In Anywali parish the CDO had agents such as one Emmanuel Opio who was tasked with the responsibility of looking for people with national identity cards and interested to receive the money yet they are not beneficiaries of the PDM,” he said.

He said officials used the identity cards of ineligible PDM beneficiaries.  “If you get Shs 1 mln, you deduct Shs 300,000, give it to Opio and then he gives back your national ID and you move,” he said, warning that if the corruption is not addressed, the PDM will not succeed in some parts of Amolatar district.

He said as of now he has directed for the arrest of the 36 ghost beneficiaries who are on the run.

The resident district commissioner, Francis Okello said they are investigating the matter and so far, four people have been arrested.

He said they are also probing the allegation of mismanaging the PDM programme in Mutu Sub-county.

The PDM was launched in February 2022 with the aim to move 3.5 million households still in subsistence farming to the money economy through commercial farming.

In the last financial year 2022, 2023, government began disbursing Shs 100 million to each of the 10,594 parishes in Uganda to enable beneficiaries of the programme to engage in enterprises such as coffee and banana growing, dairy farming, piggery, poultry keeping, fruits and growing of maize, beans, soybeans, and macadamia among others.

https://thecooperator.news/misuse-of-pdm-funds-worries-acholi-leaders/

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