Six officials of Kabale District local government have been released on police bond after refunding part of the 289 million Shillings meant for the Parish Development Model program-PDM that they allegedly embezzled.
Edmund Ntimba, the former Kabale Chief Administrative Officer, Christopher Namara, the District Community Development Officer, Beda Mwebesa, the District Production, and Marketing Officer, and Planner, Boaz Kakuru were arrested on Friday last week.
Others arrested were Erasmus Natumanya, the Kabale District Commercial Officer, and Chief Finance Officer, Julius Mujuni. They are accused of failing to account for the funds during an impromptu meeting organized by Joverine Kaliisa Kyomukama, the Deputy National Coordinator PDM in the Ministry of Local government.
In February, the government disbursed 400 million Shillings to the Kabale district account meant for Parish Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies in sub-counties. The Ministry of Finance ordered district officials not to withdraw the money until the government issues fresh guidelines for proper use.
However, the officials only disbursed 111 million Shillings. On Monday, civil servants in the district started a drive of mobilizing funds to bail out their colleagues. Area Members of Parliament also contributed and raised 120 Million Shillings.
On Tuesday, 120 million Shillings was deposited on Kabale district account number 01983501007176 in DFCU Bank. The suspects committed to refunding the balance at the beginning of next month.
The suspects were later released on police bond. Elly Maate, the Kigezi regional police spokesperson said that the release of the officials was reached after a meeting with Kaliisa.
Kaliisa said that they opted to have the suspects out of detention to allow them to recover the funds. She however said that investigations into the case will continue.
PDM is a Government strategy or approach for organizing and delivering public and private sector interventions for wealth creation and employment generation at the parish level as the lowest economic planning unit. This is aimed at ensuring support for more Ugandans to increase demand for goods and services.
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