By Shivan Ayebare
Residents of Kijuguta Ward in Northern Division, Kabale Municipality, have demanded better accountability in the management of Parish Development Model funds, citing alleged irregularities in past disbursements and poor loan recovery.
The concerns were raised during the election of a new Central Parish PDM SACCO committee.
Residents accused the outgoing SACCO leadership of failing to account properly for the funds, with some alleging that beneficiaries received less than the Shs1 million allocated under the programme.
Several residents claimed deductions of between Shs50,000 and Shs100,000 were made before some beneficiaries received their money. Others alleged that some people were asked to pay before being included on the list of beneficiaries.
Derrick Arinda, Rosette Katushabe and John Paul Kamara criticised the outgoing leadership, saying the new committee must restore public trust in the programme.
Kabale Municipality PDM Focal Person Willis Atumurikire said loan recovery remains a major challenge. He revealed that only six out of 4,332 beneficiaries have so far made repayments from funds disbursed since 2023.
Atumurikire warned beneficiaries against treating PDM money as a grant, saying it is a revolving fund meant to benefit more households.
He also said government has allocated an additional Shs50 million to each PDM Parish SACCO in Kabale Municipality, with disbursement expected between June and July.
Northern Division LC III Chairperson Patrick Tushabomwe urged the new leaders to manage the funds with transparency and integrity, saying poor handling of the money would defeat the purpose of the poverty reduction programme.
During the elections, Francis Byamukama was re-elected chairperson, Titus Byarushayi was elected treasurer, while Smith Ainomugisha was elected secretary.
The new committee pledged to improve accountability, strengthen loan recovery and ensure fair distribution of future funds.
