KIRYANDONGO, UGANDA: Kiryandongo district has so far given out Shs 4.6 billion to SACCOs under the ongoing Parish Development Model (PDM) program with all parishes in the district confirming to have received funds.
The latest SACCOs to benefit were 3 PDM SACCOs; Kahara-Kyankende SACCO for Kahara parish with 34 beneficiaries, each got one million shillings, Diika-Kyankende SACCO for Diika Parish with 35 beneficiaries, each also got one million shillings and Kyankende SACCO for Kyankende parish 57 beneficiaries each receiving one million shillings.
In total, 126 beneficiaries shared 126 million.
According to Issa Hassan, the district production officer (DPO), the enterprise group select among themselves who to benefit. The selected members are presented to their village of residence in a village meeting where the Village Chairperson must be present.
“The village residents will need to confirm that the selected person/s are residents in that village, that they are subsistence households (producing/working/earning to solve domestic needs only like food, clothing, some medical and can not invest in development projects or meaningful business) and that the person is trustworthy with a good credit record,” said Issa Hassan.
He added that “people who have borrowed from emyooga, youth livelihoods, women empowerment and other revolving funds and failed to pay back are not supposed to benefit from PDM revolving fund until they clear their debts and also to confirm that it is only one member of the household that is borrowing because the money is not for individual but the household.”
In a letter dated July 3, 2023, signed by Hajji Kakande Yunus the Secretary in the Office of the President, RDCs, RCCs and their deputies are informed to get acquainted with the new guidelines for implementation of the Parish development model and disbursement of the Parish Revolving Funds.
According to Hon Dennis Galabuzi Ssozi, the National Coordinator for the PDM, it has been observed that results from the Parish Development Model Information System (PDMIS) were inconclusive and not reliable in determining the subsistence households.
Therefore, the local governments have to send parish Chiefs into the field to fill all the gaps in the system to ensure accurate results. For the above reason, the precondition for approval to qualify for the PRF after being determined as a subsistence by the PDMIS was henceforth halted until further guidance would be communicated.
The subsistence households should in the meantime be determined and selected at a village meeting where those applying to access the PRF should be subjected to verifying by community residents at a meeting convened by the enterprise groups and attended by LC1 chairpersons. The meeting should be able to confirm whether the applicant is from a subsistence household in that community and that they are investing the money into qualifying and profitable enterprises with “Kibaro”.
The business plans, including Kibaro, should now be done as part of the preparations of the households and enterprise groups by extension staff from the sub counties/Division/Town Councils and further guidance on this issue would be provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).
Upon successful vetting of the applicant, the loan application should go through the normal appraisal and approval processes spelt out in the PRF guidelines and PDM SACCO bylaws.
Hajji Kakande also directed that guidelines issued by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, be implemented. The guidelines are as follows;
- A grace period of 24 months for all agricultural loans; repayments under the PDM should start after two years.
- Payments shall be effected up to 36 months.
- The household enterprise shall be financed up to an amount approved by the PDM SACCO and the total amount to be approved for each household should depend on the nature of expenses of the enterprise being undertaken as well as on the available loanable funds at the PDM SACCO. This should not exceed 1 million shillings per household and there should be no minimum amount to be borrowed.
- All processes should be free of charge in that the subsistence households are not expected to make any payment in order to access the PRF.
- All members of the parish should be mobilised to join the PDM SACCO whether they are subsistence or not and the issue of subsistence would only come into play when accessing the PRF.
- That the PDM SACCO was an important vehicle for delivering services under other pillars, especially pillar 1- “Agriculture Value Chain Development” which was open to all parish residents.
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