Following their Monday (September 9) theft charges, six officials—including an assistant town clerk and Parish Development Model (PDM) SACCO officials—were placed under detention.
A parish chief and a businessman are among the six people who were arraigned before the Bugiri Chief Magistrate Court in the Bugiri region.
Following a request from President Yoweri Museveni to have individuals embezzling PDM money arrested, the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) and the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) conducted an operation that resulted in their arrest.
SHACU stated in a statement on Monday that they were charged with receiving money under false pretenses and conspiring to commit fraud when they appeared before the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Bugiri.
The six defendants are;
▪️ Mathias Kawudhu, chairperson of Nawandhuki Busowa SACCO; Christopher Maka, parish head of Bupala and Busoga Parish; Azedy Mugunda, assistant town clerk of Busowa Town Council/Community Development Officer
▪️ Hussein Waisswa, businessman; ▪️ Stephen Balidawa, chairperson of Nakidudula Busowa SACCO; ▪️ Stephen Makiika, chairperson of Nakawa Busowa SACCO
They were all placed on remand until September 23, 2024, following their charging.
Between January and June of this year in the Bugiri district, they allegedly plotted and conned millions of shillings from the beneficiaries of several PDM SACCOs, with others who are still at large.
According to the SHACU statement, they are charged with fabricating a false pretense that the funds they were receiving were for PDM-related expenses such leasing space, purchasing furniture, printing vouchers, PDM files, appraisals, and photos, when in fact they were not.
It is said that the six went against PDM norms by charging fees to each recipient of their SACCOs.
During his tour on investment and wealth creation in the sub-region in March of last year, President Museveni directed the SHACU to look into incidents of extortion and mismanagement of monies allocated for PDM in Acholi.
At the time, he expressed concern that the campaign’s stated goals might not be realized and pledged to follow up after learning from the locals about how the wealth creation initiative had been mismanaged in its early phases.
this April. To get rid of anomalies in the system, Museveni started the PDM funding monitoring procedure.
Chief administrative officers, municipal clerks, business owners, and PDM officials have since been detained and charged with misusing the cash.
