IBANDA – The Ibanda district council has demanded that parish chiefs be dealt with harshly for allegedly extorting money from program participants in the Parish Development Model (PDM). (Stephen Nuwagira, photographer)
This is in response to a public outcry over an increase in the number of parish chiefs who demand payment from recipients in order to process their documentation.
Speaking to the council today, September 29, Ibanda District Council Speaker Godwin Muhumuza said, “The PDM program is supposed to support the poor to engage in commercial endeavors so as to escape poverty, but parish some parish chiefs and SACCOS chairpersons are using it to amass money for themselves.
Additionally, he alleged that some SACCOS (savings and credit cooperative societies) leaders were adding beneficiaries from outside their domains by “smuggling” them onto the list.
He commanded, “We must crack the whip and capture all the suspected extortionist parish chiefs.”
To address the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of poverty in Uganda, the government established PDM.
It aims to increase access to fundamental services like water, sanitation, health care, and education while also fostering employment opportunities and environmental sustainability.
Frustrated
District Chairman Herbert Happy Mayanja commented on the situation and claimed that the beneficiaries “don’t want to reveal the identities of the rogue parish chiefs” were frustrating efforts to combat the vice.
The difficulty, according to some beneficiaries who claim they have been asked for money by chiefs, is that the extorted parties are not yet willing to come forward, Mayanja informed the council.
The office’s chief administrative officer (CAO) has received the names of the parish leaders who were reported to Ibanda RDC Joseph Drake Mukiibi as suspected extortionists for further inquiry and, if found guilty, disciplinary punishment.
The office’s chief administrative officer (CAO) has received the names of the parish leaders who were reported to Ibanda RDC Joseph Drake Mukiibi as suspected extortionists for further inquiry and, if found guilty, disciplinary punishment.
Extortion crimes, according to Mukiibi, have been reported in a number of locations, including Kijongo sub-county in Ibanda North County, Kyeikucu in Kagongo Division Ibanda Municipality, and Igorora town council in Ibanda South County.
He observed that criminals occasionally make victimization claims after being apprehended.
One official at Ishongororo town was named in a report by Andrew Kyombo, the social services committee head, as allegedly one of the extortionists. He claimed to have already forwarded the CAO’s office his name for review.
To stop the vice, Bibian Kabasonga (Ishongororo) proposed that during sensitization drives, leaders should always meet the beneficiaries alone so that they may speak freely.
The social services committee was asked to investigate the claims and submit a report to the following council after the speaker referred the matter to them.
