HOIMA, UGANDA: Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has ordered the arrest of Sebastian Nuwamanya, the Parish Chief of Kasingo Ward in Hoima West Division, over alleged abscondment from duty and excessive consumption of alcohol.
Nabbanja issued the directive on Friday afternoon while addressing implementers of the Parish Development Model at Kitara Secondary School in Hoima West Division. It followed complaints from area residents about the conduct of the Parish Chief, under whose mandate the new initiative falls. Many said his conduct was a threat to the programme.
Nuwamanya had not shown up for the event, which was attended by residents, parish chiefs, councillors, town clerks, LCIII Chairpersons, ministers and other government officials. The event was organised to sensitise leaders about the planned implementation of the multibillion shilling intervention, which the government intends to use to eliminate poverty from the population.
Nuwamanya’s absence at the meeting sparked outrage, prompting Nabbanja to task the police, under the command of Albertine Region Police Commander Vincent Mwesigye, to mount a search for him.
But Mwesigye said that his officers failed to trace Nuwamanya and had extended the pursuit for another day.
However, Nabbanja tasked the implementors of the Parish Development Model to consider the less privileged within the population to benefit from the program, saying the rich are totally out of the target.
She asked residents in districts across Bunyoro to welcome the project and use it to eradicate poverty. She also cautioned the beneficiaries to report those asking for bribes during the implementation of the programme.
Hoima City MP Asinansi Nyakato said the area leaders are going to jointly mobilise the public to embrace it but warned some leaders against politicising the project.
The parish development model (PDM) is a multi-sectoral strategy to create socio-economic transformation by moving the 39 per cent of households out of the subsistence economy into the money economy using the parish as the epicentre for development. It is hoped that the intervention will stimulate job creation and fight unemployment among Ugandans.
The PDM pillars include financial inclusion; infrastructure and economic services; agricultural value chain development; parish-based management information systems; social services; community mobilisation and mindset change; governance and administration.
It is supposed to be a parish revolving fund whose beneficiaries will get low-cost loans for investment in income generation.
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