Two suspects, including a parish chief, have been charged with misusing Parish Development Model (PDM) funding by the Bududa Chief Magistrates Court.
In a statement made on Thursday (October 17, 2024), the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) said: “Earlier today, together with the Criminal Investigation Directorate and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, we arraigned two suspects; Kassim Wakoko and Francis Nakhaima.”
SHACU further stated that Wakoko, the parish chief of Bunandutu, was charged with acquiring money under false pretenses after allegedly defrauding millions of shillings from various beneficiaries of Bunandutu PDM SACCO members by saying that the money was intended to process their monies when it was not.
PDM is a government multi-sectoral poverty-reduction plan that aims to move 39% of households (3.5 million homes or 16.1 million Ugandans) from the subsistence economy (living hand-to-mouth) to the money economy.
This strategy is based on the National Resistance Movement’s (NRM) manifesto, the NRM’s ideological core principles and pillars (particularly social economic transformation), and the NRM’s strategy for achieving social economic transformation through the priority sectors of commercial agriculture, services, ICT, and industrialization.
However, local leaders were perplexed as to how the government would provide sh1 million to such persons, therefore they declined to promote it in their towns.
Nakhaima was accused with making false statements. Nakhaima and others who are still at large, as public officials who are obliged to file returns and provide correct statements relating Bumakita PDM SACCO monies, are accused of making false entries and returns by registering people who were not parish recipients.
The two were remanded to November 11, 2024.
The two are among a number of municipal chiefs, chief administrative officers, town clerks, and businesses recently charged with misusing PDM funding.
In March of last year, President Museveni directed SHACU to examine cases of extortion and abuse of Parish Development Model (PDM) monies in the Acholi sub-region.
While addressing the gathering at Kaunda grounds in Gulu city as he concluded his Acholi region tour on investment and wealth creation last month under the theme: Securing your future through Wealth Creation and Shared Prosperity, the President received shocking revelations and testimonies from the locals on how the wealth creation campaign has been mismanaged in its infant stages, expressing fear that its intended objectives might not be achieved and promising to follow
President Museveni began monitoring the PDM funding in April of this year in order to eliminate systemic errors.
