UGANDA, Kyankwanzi | Real Muloodi News | The government has issued tough directives aimed at curbing corruption in the Parish Development Model (PDM) programme.
The move is part of the government’s policy of zero tolerance for corruption in service delivery. Local government leaders have been tasked with publishing and pinning lists of beneficiaries on their office notice boards with immediate effect.
The government hopes that this measure will enforce transparency and eradicate ghost beneficiaries from the PDM programme.
The directives were issued by the Minister for the Presidency, Ms Milly Babirye Babalanda, while launching the five-day Manifesto Monitoring and Validation retreat for leaders from Greater Eastern Uganda at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi.
The retreat was intended to create coordination and strengthen operational synergies between different manifesto stakeholders.
The stakeholders included Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), Chief Administrative officers (CAOs), LC5 district chairpersons and NRM district chairpersons drawn from the Eastern Uganda sub-regions of Bugisu, Bukedi, Sebei, Busoga and Karamoja.
The chief convener of the retreat, Mr Willis Bashaasha, who is the Director of the Manifesto Implementation Unit (MIU), revealed that the retreat was intended to get honest conversations and first-hand information and answers from the people who are directly in charge of the implementation mix.
He reminded the participants of the importance of teamwork and urged them to avoid petty fights which may derail effective service delivery to Ugandans.
Manifesto implementation is a completely non-partisan process which requires maximum teamwork by the various stakeholders. This is to fulfil government programmes for the socioeconomic development of the citizens. The PDM implementation is a do-or-die project so its success is non-negotiable.
Therefore, any disagreements revolving around the PDM implementation must be resolved to ensure the programme’s success.
Presidency Minister Babalanda revealed that the government had learned that corruption tendencies were high on the list of threats to the successful implementation of the PDM.
She warned that the president would not hesitate to decisively deal with any leader found guilty of perpetuating corruption in PDM or any other government programme.
The presidency had adopted total transparency among the various strategies to stem corruption from the PDM.
The Local Government leaders have been directed to read the beneficiaries’ lists on air each time they appear on the media to defend and popularize government programmes.
According to Mr Julius Kapwepwe, the Technical Advisor on PDM at the PDM Secretariat, the poverty-alleviation programme has been launched in 60 districts, benefiting 9726 Saccos, which have received about USh300b as of April 15, 2023.
The programme was designed to specifically help in hauling the 39% (or 16.1 million) Ugandans still locked in the subsistence economy into the money economy.
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