Ojara Mapenduzi, Chairperson, Parliament’s Committee on Public Service and Local Government
Government has halted the implementation of the Parish Development Model (PDM) in Kampala in order to give time to the technocrats to redesign the poverty eradication model to fit into the unique aspects of the city.
The revelation was made by Ojara Mapenduzi, Chairperson, Parliament’s Committee on Public Service and Local Government, while giving highlights of findings on the status of implementation of the Parish Development Model (PDM) in the subregions of Uganda.
During the presentation of the report before Parliament, Ojara raised concerns over the lack of equity in the distribution of the PDM funds, noting that with the same amount of funds to be given to all parishes across the country, most MPs who appeared before the Committee to discuss the implementation of PDM in their regions raised a concern about coverage of PDM in areas with big parishes that have many villages, households and enterprise groups.
“On the other hand, Ministry of Local Government had not disbursed any funds for Kampala City, due to the uniqueness of the city setting. The Ministry is therefore redesigning the programme for Kampala City accordingly. Ministry of Local Government, in consultation with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), should expedite the process of redesigning the programme for Kampala Capital City to enable the targeted beneficiaries access the funds,” Mapenduzi revealed.
He also cited other areas like in Koboko North, Gulu City, Wakiso, Mayuge and Kaliro districts with huge parishes and dense population, that are almost grappling with similar challenges like Kampala.
The Committee also revealed that there have been challenges regarding the definition of the urban poor in cities like Kampala and Lira which has been found to be a challenge remarking, “Selecting beneficiaries in areas with big parishes is difficult, causes conflict and leaves out many potential beneficiaries. There were allegations of sexual harassment in Mityana District and reported gender discrimination in some regions, although the details of those allegations were not provided.”
It should be recalled that in 2021/2022, Government started the implementation of PDM targeting the 39% of Ugandans in the subsistence economy, geared towards increasing household incomes and socio-economic transformation of the country.
The establishment of PDM was hinged on the recognition that communities possess a deep understanding of their own needs and priorities and by engaging community members in the decision-making process and leveraging their local knowledge, this model would lead to the creation of development plans that are tailored to the specific context and aspirations of each parish.
However, even before the implementation of the PDM, some Opposition MPs warned against the move of allocating the similar amount of funds for all parishes in Uganda, arguing that such a move would be detrimental in Kampala due to its dense population and uniqueness like some of the people working within the city not being actual residents.
