Auditor General Exposes Rot In Management Of PDM

The Auditor General, Edward Akol handing over the report to Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa

The Auditor General, Edward Akol has raised alarm on the poor implementation of the Parish Development Model (PDM) revealing that over Shs41.7Bn was disbursed outside the management system.

The AG also reveals that some SACCOs were found to have undertaken ghost projects, while some of the said SACCOs didn’t have any physical registered offices to ease their tracing.

He sounded the alarm while handing over the annual Auditor General’s report for 2023/24 to Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa where he also raised concerns over the low levels of data collection about the PDM, revealing that only 46.3% of the eligible beneficiaries have registered.

“The implementation of the Parish Development Model demands our immediate attention. Parliament appropriated Shs1.1Trn for this program, with Shs1.06Trn specifically allocated for the Parish Revolving Fund to finance 10,594 PDM SACCOs. Whereas a lot has been achieved to implement the program, certain gaps still exist. The housing data collection at 79.9%, with population registration at just 46.3%, lack of registered offices, implementation of ineligible projects, lack of accountability in certain instances, non-existent projects among others,” Akol explained.

The Auditor General added, “In regard to the implementation status of the Parish Development Model Management Information System that begun in FY2021/22, 9366 of the 10,594 PDM SACCOs have been successfully boarded onto the WENDI platform. However, we have identified that Shs41.7Bn was disbursed outside this platform, contrary to the established guidelines.”

While receiving the  report, Tayebwa said the accountability cycle cannot be ritualistic, and that recommendations must be implemented for completeness.