By Mariam Nanyanzi
Kalungu District Chairperson Kamadi Nyombi Mukiibi and Kalungu West Constituency Joseph Gonzaga Ssewungu have accused ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) leaders in the area of frustrating recovery of Parish Development Model(PDM) in the district .
The two politicians claim the NRM district chairperson Hajj Twaha Ssonko and other party leaders fronted their relatives and friends to access PDM funds and it is the reason they are putting less effort in recovering the money .
“NRM leaders are to blame for the failed recovery of PDM money , it is a government programme ,but money was distributed among relatives and friends of NRM district leaders ,this is the reason it cannot be recovered easily ,” he said on Friday during a meeting with residents of Kalungu Town Council who were sidelined in PDM money distribution .
Mr Ssewungu said most of his constitutes he has talked to ,have complained that they have not yet received PDM money and wonders who have benefited from the Shs15billion so far disbursed to the district.
“We want a swift and thorough inquest into PDM money sent to our district , if the targeted beneficiaries complain that they have received the money ,where could that money be ,that is tax payers money,not NRM party money ” he said
This publication has learnt that out of the Shs15billion PDM funds sent to Kalungu District to benefit residents in 37 parishes, only Shs41million has been recovered . For example ,Lwabenge Sub County has returned only Shs12million.
But according to Mr Ernest Matovu ,the Kalungu District production officer the figure of recovered funds is smaller than what some politicians in the district tell the public.
“In our system we have different figures compared to what some leaders share at public gatherings , for example, in Lwebenge ,our data base has only Shs9million recovered so far ,but many leaders talk about Shs12million , we need to reconcile these figures and give accurate information to the public,” he said
He said they have strengthened their mechanisms of cash recovery to ensure that all residents benefit from this revolving fund .
This shocking revelation from Kalungu comes a day after government announced that it had had recovered only about Shs6 billion from the Shs4.3 trillion disbursed to PDM beneficiaries.
Beneficiaries who received funds during the initial rollout of the programme are about to reach the end of the two-year grace period and are expected to start repaying the revolving loans.
Speaking at the first day of the two-day Local Government Budget Consultations for the 2027/2028 financial year in Kabale Municipality on Thursday . , the State Minister for Finance in charge of Microfinance, Shartsi Musherure Kutesa, has said government faces a significant challenge in recovering the funds and called for continued sensitisation of beneficiaries about the nature of PDM financing.
She said some beneficiaries still perceive the funds as grants rather than loans that must be repaid into the revolving fund to allow other households to benefit.
“There is a huge gap in recovering PDM funds. The beneficiaries must have markets, must be told that this was not ‘akasimo’ but rather there was a grace period,” Musherure said.
Under the PDM, funds are channelled through parish-level structures and local Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs) to support households to participate in the money economy and undertake income-generating activities.