PDM cash unevenly distributed - report
What you need to know:
- The report notes that regions with lower targeted households had received more funds than those with a higher number of households.
A report by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has revealed that the distribution of Parish Development Model (PDM) funds is marred by inequalities.
Regions like Buganda, for instance, received the same amount of funds compared to other regions, despite having a higher number of targeted households.
According to a report on the state of equal opportunities in Uganda for the Financial Year 2022/2023, only 7 percent of targeted 47, 065 households in Buganda have received the funds.
This is followed by northern and western regions, with 11 percent and 15 percent, respectively.
The eastern region registered the highest number of PDM beneficiary households amounting to 21 percent of the targeted 644, 025 households having accessed the funds by September.
“The above findings show that there are inequalities in the distribution of the funds since the regions with the lower targeted households had received more funds compared to those with a high number of households,” the commission states.
PDM is a government programme meant to uplift 39 percent of households from a subsistence economy to a money economy through the distribution of a revolving startup capital or loan of Shs1m to each of these households.
As of September, statistics from the PDM secretariat indicate that a total of 370, 623 people had benefited from this programme. The same data shows that close to two million households out of the targeted more than three million households have not accessed the funds.
The EOC also stated that out of the Shs316b disbursed PDM funds, the eastern region received the biggest share of 44 percent, followed by western region at 30 percent and Buganda at 15 percent, while the northern region received only 12 percent.
“Districts, sub-regions and regions with a big population, but with fewer numbers of parishes are not being equitably served. For example, Buganda region with a population of 15 million and 1,761 number of parishes was allocated Shs47 billion, while western region with a population of 11.557 million and a total number of 2,788 parishes was allocated Shs94 billion,” the report states.
The eastern region with 11.8 million people and 3,600 parishes got Shs138b, while the north with a total population of 9.4 million and 2,568 parishes was allocated Shs36.8b.
Mr Ssozi Galabuzi, the PDM national coordinator, reiterated that all disbursement of PDM funds is done according to the number of gazetted parishes in the districts across the country.
The commission noted uneven uptake of the PDM funds among districts. More than 20 districts, including Rakai, Kaabong, Nebbi, and Kabale are reported to have less than 100 households that have benefited from the PDM programme.
However, Mr Galabuzi dismissed the commission’s statistics on the number of households that have received the empowerment funds under the PDM arrangement, saying the report’s data is not updated.
Ms Agnes Acibu, the Nebbi Woman MP, also questioned the commission’s figure, saying at least 3, 000 households have accessed the PDM funds in her district.
“The district has so far received Shs6b out of which above Shs2b have been received by more than 2, 000 households and many are continuing to receive the funds,” Ms Acibu said.
Mr Silvester Nyombi, the PDM secretariat spokesperson, said the report data was collected by September when the secretariat was still addressing some challenges that had led to delays.
“As of November 10, we had disbursed funds to more than 946, 000 households, which is an extra of over 650, 000 households compared to those reported in the report. The earlier delays were due to network issues, lack of core requirements and leadership challenges,” Mr Nyombi said.
