Eight people in Busia municipality were detained over the weekend on suspicion of mismanagement of the Parish Development Model (PDM) program.

Grace Kanuna, the deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC) for Busia, made the arrests on Friday 14th July 2023 and handed over the suspects to the Busia Police Station for detention.

The suspects were arrested, according to Kanuna, for allegedly sneaking in and registering non-Busia municipality citizens to the town’s wards. According to the deputy RDC, residents who wanted to be a part of PDM have been excluded as a result of the accused’ alleged unethical behavior.

Parish leaders, secretaries, and chairpersons of the parish development committee, as well as suspected beneficiaries who had been brought in to be enrolled, are among the accused.

The arrests came only days after Busia RDC Michael Kibwika authorized the Police to launch a general inquiries file after it was discovered that certain beneficiaries had been paid less than a million shillings.

During a meeting with PDM stakeholders in Busia town last week, Kibwika stated that one beneficiary had received sh100,000 through another individual, while another had merely sh300,000 sent into her bank account.

The purpose of the conference was to analyze the program’s progress, identify shortcomings, and minimize them.

Kibwika voiced dissatisfaction, stating that such trends were aimed at keeping people out of the money economy, which the government is combating by guaranteeing that recipients receive at least Sh1 million to engage in production.