President Museveni pledged to “mess up” bureaucrats who “mess up” the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga programs, put in place by government to combat poverty.
“If they tamper with the money, they will pay dearly for it. They will be an example for the rest of the potential culprits,” he said.
Speaking to lawmakers yesterday, primarily about the two programs, President Museveni said he had learned that ineligible civil servants had established savings and credit cooperative associations (Saccos) to take advantage of the program during a visit to Acholi, the first of several planned zonal tours of the country.
“I heard directly from the wanainchi (ordinary citizens) many bad things. In the town in one of the wards, people told me about this group where somebody called a (district) commercial officer called a meeting secretly of few people to form the leadership for the parish model because they want to find a way of stealing the money,” he said.
He added: “They didn’t involve all the people in the parish and yet we said all the people in the parish who want to engage in wealth creation should join the Sacco as long as they are adults, 18-years-old and above.”
The government implemented PDM in 2021, boosting the annual cash distribution to each parish to Sh100m last year, to enable local residents who are not part of the financial system to participate in successful businesses and distribute the profits among neighborhoods.
But, according to a report from MPs that the President claimed Speaker Anita Among gave to him, some Saccos received less money than they were entitled to, with no explanation for the discrepancy.
According to the PDM secretariat, 9,500 Saccos have been established as opposed to the anticipated 10,900, but a legislative investigation that will be discussed next week discovered irregularities all throughout the country.
These, according to Mr. Museveni, must be corrected without affecting program funding. Allegations that some anonymous officials were requiring locals to pay unlawful fees as a condition of joining benefiting Saccos—even though membership is meant to be free—were made to MPs.
“We are going to follow all these and this one I got direct[ly] from the people. So, these thieves are not clever because if you steal, we shall come and find out,” he added.
Meetings on PDM and Emyooga implementation in Acholi, the President noted, were dominated by corruption claims levelled by different stakeholders.
“All these thieves we are going to find out and you are just wasting your time and ruining your future,” he told the legislators who he urged to go out not just to talk, but listen, to the population.