President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has directed that all people who irregularly benefitted from the Parish Development Model (PDM) program, should return those funds without any delays.
“During my tour, I have discovered that there are people who are not qualified for the PDM, “the bagagga” civil servants. Those ones got it, yet they are not supposed to get it. They should pay it back immediately. Those made a mistake of taking what is not theirs,” he ordered.
Museveni made the directive while addressing a public rally at Maluku Sports Grounds, Mbale City.
The rally was part of the Presidential regional performance assessment tour on the Parish Development Model and wealth creation in Bugisu sub region.
The President also revealed that he has already ordered banks to stop deducting charges from the Shs1 million being received by the PDM beneficiaries, saying it should be the government to pay all those charges.
“Now we have put PDM in every Parish. It’s Shs100 million per parish per annum. That means it should benefit 100 homes a year. The banks which have been knocking off money, I have stopped it, the government will pay the bank charges, they will not touch your Shs1 million,” he assured.
Museveni also said all the officials who have been stealing the PDM funds are going to vomit the money and also be sent to the university of understanding in Luzira.
“Now there are those who knocked off some money and instead of giving the beneficiaries Sha980,000 after bank charges, they gave Sha200,000, Shs500, 000. There are two categories there, initially there are those who ordered themselves to give small money to various people without following what the government was saying. When we came to know we stopped it, we said it must be Shs1 million. If anybody knocked off money after that, you will pay back but also we are going to arrest him because that one is a thief,” he said. President Museveni further assured Ugandans of PDM continuity, asking them to guard the project jealously because it’s meant to help them fight poverty and uplift their livelihoods.
“Let us move without stopping, each year we shall send Shs100 million. That means in 5 years, the Parish will get Shs500 million but also in the 3rd year, the one who got first will pay back and that money will come back to the fund of the Parish and by 5 years, the Parish bank would have got an extra Shs 300 million coming back from the initial borrowers. It will no longer be Shs500 million but Shs 800 million. This money will not come back to the government, it will stay in your Parish bank. This is your money, make sure you guard it properly. You don’t have to borrow from the money lenders or even the commercial banks, this is your money, so please don’t miss this chance.” he said.
LANDSLIDES IN BUGISU
President Museveni advised the locals to stop staying in steep areas, explaining that God did not plan for people to stay in those areas. He lectured that the creator instead wanted it to be for other purposes such as water, forests and so on but not for human settlement.
“We told you long ago that this is very dangerous, but some politicians were playing around with it. Now you have seen how many people we have lost. This mountain is a goldmine, it is catching water for us. It is God’s project but we who are near, we can use it in a clever way. From the lowlands where the people can live or the footsteps of the mountain not on the cliffs, we can have hotels for tourism where people come and stay in them and go up. And we can do projects like beekeeping in the forests but don’t stay there.” he said.
He also assured the residents in disaster-prone areas that the government is ready to offer all the necessary support to resettle them in safer areas.
“I’m glad that after seeing what happened, people are now willing to move away, and we are going to provide all the money to help you get away.”
The president informed them that he is going to involve the Ministry of Housing to see how they can help the people of Bugisu to start building standard houses, having discovered that some of them still use reeds and muds to set up houses.
Of particular importance, Museveni said he was going to involve the Ministry of Housing to see how to produce cement blocks nearby for Bagisus to start using cement blocks which he said are easier to use.
Museveni also didn’t forget to castigate those trying to fail his free Education Program of UPE, saying it’s a big mistake because such people are frustrating the government’s endeavour to educate Ugandan children for free.
“It is really a big mistake to fail to implement UPE. All those children you see there whom I’m picking up under skilling centres had dropped out of school because of fees. Now you see what they are doing, they are making shoes, chairs, metal works after a course of 6 months,” he said.
He further revealed that the government was going to find a special solution for mountain marrum roads in the region. President Museveni also pledged that the government was going to locate the remains of some of the bush war freedom fighters in Mbale who lost their lives during the struggle and give them a decent burial as well as support the families of the victims.
At the same function, President Museveni launched the Ghetto Structure SACCOs in Mbale and the NRM supporters under “Yellow Girls”, endorsed him as the party’s sole candidate for the 2026 Presidential elections.
