President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has issued a directive for all unqualified beneficiaries of the Parish Development Model (PDM) program to return the funds immediately.
“During my tour, I have discovered that there are people who are not qualified for the PDM, ‘the bagagga’ civil servants. Those ones got it, yet they are not supposed to get it. They should pay it back immediately. Those made a mistake of taking what is not theirs,” he ordered .
The President made these remarks during a public rally at Maluku Sports Grounds, Mbale City, as part of his regional performance assessment tour on the PDM and wealth creation in the Bugisu sub-region.
President Museveni also announced that he has ordered banks to stop deducting charges from the Shs1 million received by PDM beneficiaries, emphasizing that the government will cover these charges.
“Now we have put PDM in every Parish. It’s Shs100 million per parish per annum. That means it should benefit 100 homes a year. The banks which have been knocking off money, I have stopped it, the government will pay the bank charges, they will not touch your Shs1 million,” he assured.
The President warned that officials who have stolen PDM funds will be required to refund the money and face arrest.
“Now there are those who knocked off some money and instead of giving the beneficiaries Shs980,000 after bank charges, they gave Shs200,000, Shs500,000. There are two categories there, initially there are those who ordered themselves to give small money to various people without following what the government was saying. When we came to know we stopped it, we said it must be Shs1 million. If anybody knocked off money after that, you will pay back but also we are going to arrest him because that one is a thief,” he said.
President Museveni emphasized the importance of PDM continuity, urging Ugandans to guard the project jealously as it aims to help them fight poverty and uplift their livelihoods.
“Let us move without stopping, each year we shall send Shs100 million. That means in 5 years, the Parish will get Shs500 million but also in the 3rd year, the one who got first will pay back and that money will come back to the fund of the Parish and by 5 years, the Parish bank would have got an extra Shs300 million coming back from the initial borrowers. It will no longer be Shs500 million but Shs800 million. This money will not come back to the government, it will stay in your Parish bank. This is your money, make sure you guard it properly. You don’t have to borrow from the money lenders or even the commercial banks, this is your money, so please don’t miss this chance,” he said.
The President also addressed the issue of landslides in the Bugisu sub-region, advising locals to relocate from steep areas and emphasizing the government’s commitment to supporting those affected.
“We told you long ago that this is very dangerous, but some politicians were playing around with it. Now you have seen how many people we have lost. This mountain is a goldmine, it is catching water for us. It is God’s project but we who are near, we can use it in a clever way. From the lowlands where the people can live or the footsteps of the mountain not on the cliffs, we can have hotels for tourism where people come and stay in them and go up. And we can do projects like beekeeping in the forests but don’t stay there,” he said.
President Museveni concluded his remarks by emphasizing the importance of supporting the National Resistance Movement’s (NRM) message of wealth creation and education for all.
“Then we added bonna bagagawale- Prosperity for all. Some people didn’t understand this. We put it in the Manifesto of 1996 and we said you people who have got small land, engage in intensive agriculture where you use a small piece of land but get high returns. That means you select enterprises carefully. There are enterprises which make money if you do them on a big scale but there are those where you make money even if on a small scale,” he said.
