It’s a new year! I welcome you, dear reader, and thank God for seeing us through 2023. Regardless of the challenges, there were many happy returns for which we should be thankful. 2024 brings new hope and for others, a chance to trace new beginnings.
Next month, it will be two years since the official launch of the Parish Development Model (PDM), the flagship wealth creation programme of the Government by H.E President Yoweri Museveni in Kibuku district, Eastern Uganda. At this point, PDM is a reality of our times, changing the lives of direct and indirect beneficiaries in each of Uganda’s 10,694 parishes. The Model positions the parish/ward as the epicenter of multi-sectoral community development, planning, supervision and accountability to deliver interventions to drive socio-economic transformation.
The highlight of 2023 under the programme is the countrywide disbursement of seed capital to beneficiaries under the various SACCOs formed in their parishes and wards. Reports indicate that some 30 districts and municipalities have achieved 100% disbursement while the rest are at various stages in the process. PDM is intended to spur wealth creation, create jobs and increase household incomes. The Model hinges on seven pillars; Production, Storage, Processing and Marketing; Infrastructure and Economic Services; Financial Inclusion; Social Services; Mindset change; parish-based -Based Management Information System; Governance and Administration.
As of November 10, 2023, 946, 000 households were reported to have received funds by the PDM Secretariat housed under the Ministry of Local Government, the lead implementing agency. The target is 3.5 million households among the 39% outside the money economy.
Depending on the enterprises selected by these households (each represented by an agreed-upon beneficiary), there is a good reason to believe that the funds received have already affected the economy after being invested in expanding the enterprises of beneficiaries. Since the enterprises are agriculture-based, beneficiaries who started receiving money by the end of last year, and are into fast-growing crops or livestock, by now they have harvested and reinvested the money. PDM is already having an impact on the economy. Production is going up, and this can be traced to the festive season we have just been through, whereby prices of foodstuffs didn’t rise significantly. Recall that an increase in supply lowers prices. It’s good news to know that the PDM category is feeding itself and bringing the excess onto the market, as envisaged by the formulators of the PDM concept.
At the onset of the disbursement of funds, there were several challenges, like wrongful selection of beneficiaries and extortion, but these have largely been addressed.
The government, under the leadership and overall supervision of His Excellency the President, was on full alert through our anti-graft agencies and the RDC/RCC offices in the respective jurisdictions to ensure that the programme’s original objectives were not derailed by the few unserious actors. Many were arrested while others were cautioned, and I thank the frontliners who have been on the ground to ensure sanity in PDM implementation. PDM shouldn’t be a tug-of-war area but a joy to see succeed.
With continuous sensitisation, the old challenges in beneficiary selection have been minimised and with the introduction of the Parish-Based Management Information System PDMIS-FIS, the process will be seamless and more accurate.
The coming of PDM introduced a workload which caught some of the technical people by surprise to the point of despair. Like the Parish Chiefs and Community Development Officers (CDOs); it appears some of them got used to earning easy money without adding much to the economy. PDM came as a reminder that there is always an extra task waiting to be attended to. PDM also came with more opportunities for jobs. Parish chiefs were recruited for purposes of implementing the programme, as well as other relevant positions in the hierarchy.
Therefore, PDM was a blessing to many of our people in 2023. Apart from the cash (which is only under one pillar), we shouldn’t lose attention to the other six pillars which, taken together, virtually reimagine and reengineer how Government operates for effective service delivery and management of society.
Taking pillar 4 on Social Services as an example; a given parish may have 100 beneficiaries receiving one million each, which money they are to use for the production and expansion of their businesses. But they also need services like health, education and water. In effect, PDM further aims to bring services closer to the people at the administrative unit nearest to them within the parish/ward. PDM, therefore, benefits all categories of people even though some may not benefit under the Financial Inclusion pillar. This year, may we see pillar 4 get underway as part of the implementation of the NRM Manifesto 2021 and the National Development Plan III. It’s a coordinated plan to transform the lives of Ugandans.
2024 is a “do or do better” year for PDM. It’s the only remaining full year outside the electoral politics cycle in which we have to iron out any residual or emerging challenges and strengthen the positive scores.
Given H.E. the President’s guidance on when repayment of the funds starts, being two years for the recovery process to start and an additional one-year grace period (making a total of 36 months), by the end of 2024, the first beneficiaries will be eligible to start paying back. The President wisely considered that his people needed sufficient time to utilise the funds and grow their enterprises before being interrupted with demands for repayment. Since the two-year clock this year, our interest now is to prepare our beneficiaries to repay their loans without pressure, even willingly. This delicate exercise should not pose a danger to the political base, as we face the turn into a year of heightened politics-2025.
I extend appreciation to the leaders in the various districts and cities, including Members of Parliament (MPs) who have participated in monitoring PDM in their areas and urge the rest to join in. I thank my sister, Rt. Hon. Anita Among, the Speaker of Parliament, for allocating time for PDM issues to be discussed on the floor of Parliament and sending MPs on special recess to monitor the program.
Working together, PDM will be a resounding success and pride for all!
Happy New Year 2024, H.E. the President, Colleague Ministers and all Ugandans!
The author is the Minister for the Presidency
