Mityana district is one of the many districts where the Parish Development Model (PDM) program has reached the grassroots beneficiaries.
Residents here say they have greatly benefited from the program and asked the government to enhance the PDM budget to reach a sizeable number of people.
While monitoring the progress of the program in the district yesterday October 13, lands minister Judith Nabakooba, who is also the in-charge of the PDM docket in greater Mubende asked leaders to organise seminars and teach people how to use the money and encourage them to form entreprise groups to benefit from the program.
“I have heard that 90 percent of the Shs8.1b is already disbursed and people are using it. Teach them how to utilize this money such that they don’t misuse it,” she said.
Nabakooba gave leaders in the district an ultimatum of two weeks to pay the remaining funds on PDM accounts to the beneficiaries.
“Give out all the funds because it is meant for our people such that when we receive more PDM funds this financial year, we give more people,” she added.
The minister was however not impressed with complaints from residents concerning Opportunity Bank that deducted Shs20,000 from people’s money and gave them Shs980,000.
She asked the bank to pay back this money and change the private security officer at that bank who allegedly mistreats people when they access it to process their money.
“People pay for everything required and then you deduct their money, I don’t understand that. Pay back people’s money and also give other banks an opportunity to speed up the program,” she said.
The minister monitored the program in three sub counties of Kikandwa, Kalangaalo, and Bulera.
Mr Emmanuel Zirabamuzaale, the in-charge in monitoring the implementation of government programs in Mityana noted that there was no extortion in the entire district and promised to put the minister’s directives into action to ensure that by the end of October, all expected beneficiaries of this first phase have the money on their accounts.
“We are going to speed up the process to ensure that every person is absorbed in to the available groups to clear the remaining steps for them to get the money,” he promised.
For a person to receive the money, they have to be members of a certain entreprise group, possess a bank account and have national identity cards with mobile phone numbers registered in their names.
According to Mr Jackson Kamya, the Kikandwa LC III chairperson, all the eight parishes in his area have got the money with each SACCO receiving Shs107m.
“We thank President Yoweri Museveni for always thinking about the poor Ugandan. Our prayer now is to see the beneficiaries using the money appropriately and they pay back after the three years such that we develop our community,” he said.
He warned beneficiaries who received the money and did not use it as expected to immediately venture in the projects that they asked the money for.
In Mityana, there are three projects that residents agreed to do under PDM. These include poultry, dairy farming, and coffee growing. Nabakooba however asked beneficiaries to invest in any project as long as the money is doing something productive.
Mr Rogers Ssenkaayi, the Kalangaalo PDM Chief said most of the people from the 11 parishes of the area invested in coffee projects but have been greatly affected by coffee wilt disease.
He asked government to give them extension workers who can help them curb the disease.
In her response, Nabakooba pledged to connect the district’s extension workers to technocrats in the Ministry of Agriculture for an immediate solution to the problem.
