Govt officials arrested over theft of PDM cash

More than a dozen officials in Kitgum District yesterday spent the second night in police custody over allegations of misappropriating Shs526m Parish Development Model (PDM) cash.

Among those detained are top administrators, production and veterinary, community development and probation as well as agricultural and commercial officials.

The arrest of the 14 officials followed joint Inspectorate of Government (IG) and police investigations

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The money is part of the Shs745m disbursed to the district for PDM activities.

PDM is a new poverty alleviation programme that the government rolled out in the last financial year to get more than three million peasant households into the money economy. 

It is fashioned to operate through Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisation (Sacco) groups formed by residents in each of Uganda’s more than 10,000 parishes. The beneficiaries select profitable enterprises that the government bankrolls.

At inception, the government disbursed Shs17 million to each parish, increasing the allocation to Shs100m this financial year.

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The Ministry of Local Government, the key implementing ministry, indicated that the Treasury would send the money directly to the bank accounts of the Saccos so that beneficiaries would appropriate it to members.

It is still unclear how the officials accessed the cash.

Their luck ran out after the Kitgum District chairman, Mr Christopher Arwai Obol, asked the Auditor General to conduct a forensic audit following allegations of wrongful use of PDM funds received by the district in the 2021/2022 fiscal year.

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“There are indications that the funds have not been spent correctly. I hereby request your office to constitute a forensic audit on the expenditure of the said funds,” he said in an August 11 letter copied to the Finance Ministry and the State House Anti-Corruption Unit.

Mr Obol said the officials overspent on administrative and staff costs, gadgets and tools.

The Shs745m that Kitgum received is part of the Shs1.2b the district is expected to get this fiscal year. 

The Aswa River Region Police spokesperson, Mr David Mudong Ongom, yesterday confirmed that the suspects were in their custody.

Detectives reportedly arrested the officials on orders of Mr Jovin Kalisa, the PDM deputy national coordinator at the Office of the Prime Minister, following a tip-off by a whistleblower.

The Kitgum Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mr William Komakech, said the arrests followed earlier inquiries by the Inspectorate of Government (IG), which unearthed evidence of wrongdoing.

Mr Komakech said the week-long inquiries by the IG recommended that the finance department recovers the missing funds by deducting salaries, and allowances of the accused if they don’t reimburse voluntarily. 

Mr Komakech said they could only recover Shs45m of the Shs526m before the accused became unresponsive to the refund order. 

“The district technical staff took advantage of the funds that were sent and used the money to do other things instead of disbursing it to the groups. Besides dividing the money among themselves, they spent a lot of money on trainings and allowances instead of disbursing it to groups,” he said.

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The officials have since recorded statements with police, according to officials who said the suspects will not be freed unless they reimburse the missing cash.

“[The] government wants the money recovered and disbursed to the intended beneficiaries and groups. If you are given government money to do activity A, and you go and do activity B that is not spelt in the guidelines, it is criminal,” said the RDC.

Subsequently, the IG formally began investigating the allegations last week.

Mr Nicholas Kajura, the head of the Inspectorate’s Gulu regional office, said they want to establish the circumstances under which the district officials accessed and used more than 80 percent of PDM money on administration activities contrary to the programme guidelines.

According to the district work plan, Shs208m was distributed into the accounts of 19 sub-counties to facilitate the sensitisation of stakeholders, including the in-charge of health centres, centre head teachers, health assistants, office centre stations, chairperson of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party chairpersons, women, youth, and elderly council executives and sub-county chairpersons.

PDM structure

The structure of PDM illustrates the different actors that are responsible for implementing the PDM activities.

1. National Policy Committee

2. PDM Working Groups

3. Sub-national level

4. PDM Secretariat

 PDM Working Groups

The Working Groups shall be comprised of ministers, permanent secretaries and technical

Officers. The Working Groups will serve as an avenue for consultation and review. Reports of the Working Groups shall be compiled by the PDM Secretariat quarterly.

The PDM Working Groups will review and propose amendments to operational guideline and respective pillars, manuals and assist in alignment of plans and budgets of ministries, departments and agencies to the PDM

Local Governments, cities

At the high Local Government level, the PDM will be implemented through the existing structures of district/city and municipal council. 

The chief administration officer (CAO)/ town clerk will be the accounting officer. The Local Governments and KCCA shall:

i. Establish and equip the PDM Secretariat function within the TPC;

ii. Strengthen capacity of sub-county/town council and divisions on PDM conceptualisation, planning, budgeting and implementation;

iii. Prepare and approve consolidated work plans/budgets for the PDM implementation;

iv. Receive, manage and account for finances as well as other resources under the PDM;

v. Support compliance of PDM implementation, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and reporting in accordance with set standards at all Local Governments/city levels;

vi. Receive and compile reports on PDM implementation from lower Local Governments for submission to the Secretariat and relevant Working Groups;

vii. Create awareness and mobilisation for the implementation of the PDM;

viii. Coordinate Public Private Community Partnership (PPCP) engagements at the lower Local Governments;

ix. Provide overall coordination and supervision of PDM at all Local Government/city levels;

x. Supervise and consolidate the collection and management of parish based data;

xi. Provide technical training of stakeholders on PDM implementation.

xii. Strengthen capacity of parishes/wards on PDM conceptualisation, planning, budgeting and implementation;

xiii. Receive and consolidate parish level work plans/budgets for the PDM implementation;

xiv. Receive, manage and account for PDM related finances as well as other resources under their control;

xv. Ensure formation of the PDC/WDC within the parishes/ wards under their control;

xvi. Create awareness and advocate for the implementation of the PDM

PDM Secretariat

The PDM Secretariat shall be domiciled at the Ministry of Local Government. The secretariat shall have a PDM coordinator and deputy coordinator, seven pillar managers from the PDM pillars, a representative from Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) and strategic technical support staff.  In particular, the Secretariat shall: -

i. Coordinate the activities of the national and sub-national level stakeholders in the implementation of the PDM;

ii. Coordinate activities of the NPC and PDM Working Groups and facilitate their meetings;

iii. Monitor and track the compliance of work plans and budgetary resources;

iv. Develop detailed action plans for PDM implementation;

v. Compile detailed actions plans from MDAs on the implementation of the PDM;

vi. Provide necessary support to the pillars and Local Governments on PDM implementation;

The PDC Membership shall comprise of 

1. Chairperson - LC II  chairperson 

2. Parish chief secretary

3. Chairperson, Women Council 

4. Chairperson, Youth Council 

5. Chairperson, Disability Council 

6. Chairperson of the Ruling Party at the Parish 

7. Opinion leader/ elderly 

The role of the PDC is to:

i.  Mobilise, sensitise and create awareness on PDM Programmes to the community;

ii.  Participate in identification of the needs and priorities of the parish/ward using participatory approach;

iii.  Ensure preparation of parish/ward action plans, budgets and reports for the PDM;

iv.  Oversee selection of groups and individuals to benefit from PDM activities by the Parish Financial Agency;

v.  Assist the Parish Financial Agency in following up recovery of Loans under the Parish/Ward Revolving Fund;

vi. Coordinate and support implementation of PDM activities;

vii. Receive report of the parish chiefs on progress and outcomes of data collection and take appropriate action to ensure a smooth exercise;

viii. Oversee the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the projects at parish/ward level;

ix. Responsible for monitoring resource use and the overall accountability of resources provided to the PDC for operations;

x. Mobilise Community for PPCP arrangement in

the Parish;

xi. Prepare and submit progress reports on implementation of the PDM activities to the parish council and the sub-county council.

Source: Ministry of Local Government