PDM: Bank charges abolished, parish chiefs to file annual reports

KAMPALA - Effective next financial year, each parish chief will be expected to file annual reports on the performance of the Parish Development Model (PDM) programme. 

The aim is to help the Government to track progress. 

Finance minister Matia Kasaija made the revelation while reading the national budget estimates for the next financial year on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at the Kololo Ceremonial Grounds.

He also announced that no bank charges will be tagged onto the shillings one million received by PDM beneficiaries, adding that bank charges have been catered for in the next financial budget.

 Matia also announced an addition of shillings 1.059 trillion next financial year 2025/26 for further capitalisation of the PDM.

“The Government has also provided money to pay for the bank charges to ensure that beneficiaries receive the full amount of shillings one million each. tracking of progress towards full monetization of the economy for every parish,” Kasaija said.

By June 30 this year, a total of shillings 3.3 trillion will have been transferred to the 10,589 parishes across the country, to transform the households still in subsistence to join the money economy.

Currently, each parish gets shillings 100 million per year. So far, the PDM funds have reached 2.63 million beneficiaries in all districts and parishes.

The beneficiaries have invested at least  45 per cent of the money in cash and food crops such as maize, cassava, onions, bananas and Irish potatoes, 36 percent in livestock such as piggery, goats, beef cattle, dairy cattle and sheep, 12 per cent in poultry, and six percent in other enterprises.

"These investments are changing the lives of Ugandans by boosting household incomes, enhancing food security and creating employment opportunities at local levels countrywide," Kasaija said.