PDM: Govt moves to include 127 parishes in 2025/26 FY

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One hundred and twenty-seven parishes previously excluded from the Parish Development Model (PDM) are set to be incorporated in the 2025/26 Financial Year.

Under the PDM, each parish in Uganda receives sh100 million each financial year, with the government aiming to disburse funds in two tranches to coincide with planting seasons.

The revolving fund, launched in Kibuku district in 2022, aims to uplift 39% of Ugandans still trapped in the subsistence economy by providing financial support. Under the programme, the government allocates sh100 million to each of the 10,594 parishes in the country annually.

Ben Kumumanya, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Local Government, made the revelation on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, during an engagement with Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, chaired by vice chairperson Grania Hope Nakazibwe (Mubende district, NRM).

Parliaments Agriculture Committee Vice Chairperson Grania Hope Nakazibwe. (Photo by Maria Wamala)

Also in attendance were Bright Rwamirama, the Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, and Victoria Rusoke, the Minister of State for Local Government. The discussions centred on the ministry's policy statements for the upcoming fiscal year.

“These ones, because they missed out on elections in 2018, when we had elections for LC I and II, never completed the constitutional process. They don’t have an LC II chairperson or a constituted parish executive committee, where we draw a representative of People with Disabilities, Women, Youth, and the Elderly to form the Parish Development Committee (PDC). Our target is that we are going to get elections just next year, and once they are there, the 127 will be able to access resources,” Kumumanya explained.

“We have agreed to submit them to be considered in the budget of 2025/26 with all the information. While they did not have LC I and II chairpersons, when it came to LC III elections of 2021, somehow people were elected from those units. That caused a problem. We know it, and we are going to solve it,” he added.

His response followed concerns raised by West Budama County MP Dr Sam Otaala (NRM). This being the budgeting period, Otaala said they cannot afford to prolong the malady.

“In Bukedi, where I know most, we have 22 parishes which participated in the previous elections. But they have not even received a coin. So, while others are developing, they are remaining behind,” he cited.

“This is a big issue. Even the House, two or three weeks ago, directed that the Minister of Local Government bring a statement on these parishes that are not benefiting. The answer has been that the Electoral Commission (EC) has not coded them. I think it is not right that it should be EC to code. Rather, it should be the Ministry of Local Government to code and give the Electoral Commission the coded parishes. This issue of passing the buck to the EC, I think, is totally wrong. We need to know the fate of these parishes,” Otaala emphasised.

Minister Rusoke, MP Nyakato clash

The highlight of the day, however, was the clash between State Minister for Local Government Victoria Rusoke and Hoima City Woman MP Asinansi Nyakato (FDC). It all started after Nyakato, who is the shadow minister for energy and mineral development, tore into President Yoweri Museveni’s ongoing PDM tours.

Saying that instead of being taken to genuine beneficiaries, the President, during his recent PDM tour of the Bunyoro sub-region, was conned. As she submitted, the minister could be heard taunting Nyakato that she was not present during the visit.

“Unfortunately, most of the model farmers whom he was able to see were farmers who established themselves before,” she alleged.

“By the time you take a President to visit a model farmer who has a project of over sh1 billion, then that is not Parish Development Model. Can we emphasise and allocate more money to mindset change? Because most of our people, when they get this money, go towards paying school fees, moneylenders, and rent. So, they end up not utilising it for exactly what it was planned for,” Nyakato further claimed.

When Rusoke took the microphone, she began by pointing out that Nyakato was not present during President Museveni’s PDM tour, adding that the beneficiaries visited were not fictitious.

Members of Parliament on the agriculture committee. (Photo by Maria Wamala)

However, she admitted that one of them, David Irumba, a successful agribusiness entrepreneur in Hoima, is actually an employee of the local government ministry.

“We visited someone in Kikuube who used his millions, and they dug fish ponds. That man is getting very good money, and it is real, natural. Me I went to Kikuube, and I was with your colleague, Mr Kazini (Buhaguzi MP), who even presented the memorandum. So, I was there, saw with my own eyes, and the man was facilitated to operate the other two ponds who didn’t have finger rings,” Rusoke defended.

“He (President Yoweri Museveni) visited our own staff Irumba. Yes, it’s not a problem. In fact, it was to justify that PDM can also work in urban areas because people think PDM is about agriculture. Our staff Mr Irumba, is a poultry farmer. It was a lesson to other people that you can do PDM even in your garage or one room and get money. So, there is no limitation,” she further stated.

At this moment, committee vice chairperson Hope Grania Nakazibwe urged the feuding duo, who hail from Greater Bunyoro-Kitara, to sort themselves out in person.

“Hon. Asinansi, you will have some time and talk about Bunyoro and Tooro issues,” Nakazibwe ruled.