By Joseph Kiggundu
Members of Parliament on the Public Accounts Committee have expressed concern over delays in rolling out a digital system designed to track the implementation of the Parish Development Model, warning that the platform may become fully operational too late to effectively monitor the programme.
The system, known as the Parish Development Management Information System (PDMIS), was developed by the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance in partnership with other government agencies. It is intended to register beneficiaries, track the release of funds and assess the impact of the programme at parish level.
However, legislators fear that the slow pace of implementing the platform could weaken oversight of the multi-billion-shilling initiative aimed at moving households from subsistence livelihoods into the money economy.
The Parish Development Model was launched in February 2022 as a government strategy to boost rural incomes through parish-based financing. Under the programme, each parish receives about Shs100 million every year to support community members engaged in income-generating activities such as farming, livestock rearing and small-scale enterprises. Actual disbursement of funds to beneficiaries started in January 2023.
The digital monitoring platform was introduced to improve transparency and address long-standing challenges in tracking beneficiaries, financial flows and programme outcomes across the country’s more than 10,000 parishes.
During a committee meeting on Tuesday, 10 March 2026, chaired by Gorreth Namugga, officials from the ICT ministry were asked to provide an update on the progress of the system and how it will support the programme’s implementation.
Namugga said the committee wanted clarity on the platform’s development and its expected benefits to the country.
“We want a clear update on the platform and its benefits to the country. This is a transformational programme for the NRM government, so assure us that it is the magic bullet it is meant to be,” she said.
Responding to the concerns, Peter Ogule from the ICT ministry told lawmakers that the PDMIS was designed to track the overall performance and implementation of the programme across the country.
“The Parish Development Management Information System is intended to keep track of the performance and implementation of PDM,” Ogule explained.
He added that the platform was built using a modular structure that integrates different pillars of the programme, allowing information from various components to be shared and analysed centrally.
Among its key features are household registration and community profiling modules that capture village-level data. The system also includes a financial inclusion component to track the disbursement of funds under the Parish Revolving Fund, as well as monitoring and evaluation tools aimed at assessing the programme’s overall impact.