KWANIA – Following charges of extortion and misuse of Parish Development Model (PDM) program funding, police in Kwania district have summoned 16 Kwania-based Owiny Savings and Credit Co-operative Organization (SACCO) officials and members in Ayabi sub-county.

Following the launch of the disbursement of the funds by gender minister Betty Amongi, Owiny PDM SACCO received shillings 107 million PDM monies in June 2023, along with 49 other organizations in Kwania.

The PDM Secretariat’s PDM Guidelines were broken when Owiny PDM SACCO leaders distributed funds to ghost members and the majority of SACCO members from the same households received the funds, as was discovered during a verification exercise of PDM beneficiaries by the district chairperson for Kwania.

District chairperson Geoffrey Alex Ogwal Adyebo ordered the arrest of the Owiny PDM SACCO chairperson Robson Oyugi and the subsequent summon of Owiny Itenge village LC1 chairperson Pasqueli Ebong and his three children; Jimmy Ocen, who is not a bonafide resident of Owiny parish; Ronald Okello and his wife; Bob Ebil, his wife and the daughter, Solomon Okwir and his wife, and Thomas Ebong, a primary school teacher.

Others included Caka Isaac and his wife, all of whom were related. All of them received orders to make statements at the Kwania Central Police Station and were given two weeks to return the one million shillings to their PDM SACCO accounts.

The sheer number of individuals who have stolen PDM monies in Kwania, according to Ogwal Adyebo, has prompted police to set up a desk where complaints may be made in an effort to retrieve the assets.

“There are a disproportionately large number of offenders,” he declared. “What we have decided to do now is to ask the Police to give us a desk on complaints on PDM.”

The PDM SACCO leaders in Kwania were warned by Kwania Resident District Commissioner Arikwanga Richard Noon not to politicize the initiative.

John Denis Ebu, LC3 head of the Ayabi town council, stated that PDM is performing incredibly well in the town council and is favorably affecting recipients’ lives as a result of frequent training.

Patrick Bura, the commercial officer for the Kwania District, attributed the PDM irregularities to the PDM SACCO officials’ frailty.