Minister orders arrest of PDM committees in Serere

Serere, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The State Minister for Fisheries, Hellen Adoa Abeku has ordered the arrest of the Parish Development Committee members of Kateta Parish, Kateta Sub County in Serere District for allegedly flouting and mismanaging the Parish Development Model (PDM).

Adoa who doubles as the Serere Woman Member of Parliament, was enraged when she heard on Thursday that the PDM cash had been paid to ghost beneficiaries in Osokotoit and Aisin A villages.

The Minister’s anger flared when she heard that the PDM committee sidelined two villages of Okulukulun and Atapar while selecting beneficiaries for funding.

According to the information availed by the Parish Chief of Kateta, Joyce Mary Ogalo during the meeting organized by the Minister and her colleague, Emmanuel Omoding, the Serere County MP in Kocodoro Primary School, the selection of PDM beneficiaries was based on personal relations with the committee members who were also accused of extorting money from the community.

Ogalo failed to explain how two people (Shepherd Okello and Shadrack Ebaale) were paid when they never existed in any of the villages in her parish. Both the village chairpersons and the residents in the villages of Kateta Parish denied knowledge of any resident with the said names.

During the same meeting, the Minister ordered the district the start fresh registration of beneficiaries in the parishes of Kanyangan and Okodo after the lists presented by their respective Parish Chiefs were questioned by the community living in the same areas.

James Ebwaku, the Serere District Commercial Officer told the Minister that the two names were forwarded to the district for payment during the launch of PDM in the district in June. Ebwaku notes that they are investigating claims of extortion and influence peddling in the PDM management across the district after receiving numerous complaints from some concerned residents.

Saulo Musasizi, the Serere District Police Commander (DPC) says that they have opened the General Inquiry File into the matter after receiving the directive from the Minister. He notes that his desk has taken serious concern over the matter and will be able to report the progress of the investigations in due course.

Serere district has received more than seven billion Shillings of PDM from the Ministry of Finance but has only been able to disburse UGX. 342 Million in the first batch of payment. The district approved 1,139 vouchers for payment out of 7,096 people beneficiaries captured in the system.

The Parish Development Model is a Government strategy or approach for organizing and delivering public and private sector interventions for wealth creation and employment generation at the parish level as the lowest economic planning unit. It has seven pillars ranging from production, storage, processing and marketing; infrastructure and economic services; financial inclusion; social services; mindset change; parish based management information system to governance and administration.

However, PDM implementation has been met by several concerns including alleged extortion, system breakdown causing delays and lack of the required tools and equipment like computers in parishes and sub counties to ease the registration processes.

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