By Guest Writer
Beatrice Nyafwono took her one-million-shilling Parish Development Model (PDM) grant and split it in half. With the first half, she bought three piglets and feed.
With the second, she planted a cassava garden. The proceeds from both let her buy a cow, which has since multiplied to two, and start a retail shop that now gives her a daily income.
Her story was one of several success accounts shared with the Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon. Jacob Marksons Oboth, during a PDM progress meeting with Sub county and Parish leaders of West Budama Central, held at the Speaker’s residence in Muwafu Ward, Nabuyoga Town Council, Tororo District on Tuesday this week.
Subcounty and Parish Chiefs used the meeting to report on the programme’s impact across the constituency, confirming that 7,873 families have benefited from PDM in West Budama Central, with UGX 8.59 billion disbursed between 2022 and 2025 and a further UGX 1.072 billion pending disbursement.
West Budama Central comprises six subcounties: Nabuyoga, Mulanda, Mwello, Pajwenda, Siwa and Nabuyoga Town Council spread across 22 parishes, each with its own set of beneficiaries and success stories.
But alongside the success stories came sobering accounts of what still stands in the programme’s way. Leaders flagged disparities in allocations across parishes, low attendance at beneficiary training sessions, and reluctance among poor and vulnerable households to take up loans for fear of failing to repay them.
They also raised the absence of ready markets for produce and goods from PDM-supported enterprises, a gap they said was eating into the returns beneficiaries could otherwise earn on their investments.
It was against this backdrop that Speaker Oboth issued his sharpest warning of the day: corruption, he said, threatens to undermine everything the programme is meant to achieve.
He cautioned leaders in the strongest terms against demanding kickbacks from beneficiaries, stressing that they are already salaried to do government work and have no business extracting anything further from the very households PDM is meant to lift out of poverty.
“I was made Speaker to fight corruption, and I will lead by example,” Speaker Oboth told the gathering, vowing to crack down on any form of graft connected to the programme.
He further cautioned leaders against lavish spending aimed at winning praise, urging them instead to live within the means of the salaries they are paid.
“You are not working for the President or any leader, but for yourself,” he said, adding that anyone attempting to obstruct justice should instead let the law take its course, and urging leaders at all levels to cooperate and support one another’s roles.
The Speaker guided further that PDM funds are meant to transform households and enable our people to move out of poverty, and every leader has a responsibility to ensure that these resources reach the intended beneficiaries.
“Ï am warning anyone found conniving with local leaders to misuse or divert PDM funds would be held accountable.”
He commended District Internal Security Officers (DISOs) for their role in monitoring government programmes and filing reports that strengthen accountability, describing their input as vital to ensuring PDM delivers on its objectives.
The Resident District Commissioner, Hajji Bategana Salim, who also attended the meeting, strongly urged leaders to use PDM as a catalyst for eradicating poverty in the district.
The District Police Commander, Karrekyezi Martin Bampa, urged leaders not to conceal or protect crime and committed to supporting communities on cases of stolen animals, a recurring complaint among PDM beneficiaries.
Other leaders present included Subcounty Chiefs, Parish Chiefs, LC III and LC II Chairpersons, Gombolola Internal Security Officers, Councilors and SACCO leaders.
The engagement forms part of the Speaker’s directive that Members of Parliament use the current recess to monitor government programmes in their constituencies, with particular attention to the Parish Development Model, before Parliament reconvenes on 28 September 2026. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
