KOLE, UGANDA: Locals and members of Parish Development Savings and Credit Cooperatives in Kole district are decrying meager funding as implementation of the Parish Development Program takes shape.
Kole district received only 310 million from the expected 621 million shillings that they planned from the Ministry of Finance for the implementation of the Parish development model. The district has a total of 54 parishes.
Mystica Amongi, a resident of Aboke Town Council says the disbursement to parishes is too little to have any tangible impact given the enterprises they would wish to inject funds in.
Amongi stressed that with just USH 6,842,485 million shillings sent to the parish Sacco, meaning the distribution per person will be affected and believes creates a lee way for the funds to be misappropriated.
Bosco Okori, the Ayer Sub County LCIII Chairperson says the Parish development committees are already having trouble in identifying suitable enterprises to the reduction of funds remitted by the government.
Okori says that coupled with the meager funding, the Sub County PDC hasn’t clearly spelt how they will recover funds from the various parishes, which could be a gap used to corrupt the recovery system.
Ronald Okello, the secretary of Lwala-Ayer PDM SACCO is now calling for government to increase funding if the program is to have any meaningful impact.
Okello is unsure why, only Kole district is receiving meager funding when all the parishes in other districts in the country are getting 100 million as planned and budget for in the 2022/23 financial year.
Kole District Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Moses Mahamoud Dalili told DailyExpress that there was a shortfall in their Indicative Planning Figures [IPF] by the Ministry of Finance.
‘’For PDM SACCOs, Our IPF was621 million for the whole year but we received 310million and then we got an instruction to add 68 million gadgets money to that so that each parish Sacco got 6.842.485 million shillings,’’ Said Dalili.
He added that the Ministry of finance in this current financial year will transfer 100 million plus the balance so that cumulatively each parish should have 117 million shilling.
The Parish Development model is being implemented under seven pillars which among others include Production, Storage, Processing, and Marketing, social services, infrastructure, and economic services.
It also has aspects of financial inclusion as part of the pillars. 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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