Two Hoima PDM staff arrested over alleged extortion
President Yoweri Museveni has time and again warned SACCOs leaders entrusted with PDM cash against mismanaging the funds, saying offenders will face prosecution.
Two Hoima PDM staff arrested over alleged extortion
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Two leaders of Western West Parish Development Model (PDM) Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisation (SACCOs) in Hoima City have been arrested over alleged extortion.
This was after beneficiaries reported to authorities that they were being forced to pay money as a pre-condition for accessing PDM funds.
Subsequently, Sylvia Kahwa, the SACCOs Vice Chairperson and Veronica Nyamaizi, the General Secretary, were arrested and are being held at Hoima Central Police Station.
According to Julius Allan Hakiza, the Albertine South Regional Police spokesperson, the two allegedly demanded money from PDM beneficiaries during sensitisation meetings, with payment of the said money reportedly asked for as a condition for beneficiaries to be considered for funding.
A case of demanding money by menaces, contrary to Section 286 of the Penal Code Act, was registered at Hoima Central Police Station, after which statements were recorded from the aggrieved beneficiaries and the suspects were traced and arrested.
The file has since been forwarded to the Resident State Attorney for review, and the two are expected to appear in court.
Police used the case to warn officials against asking for money from PDM funds beneficiaries, saying the money should be disbursed free of charge. Hakiza said those who ask for money as a pre-condition to access PDM funds were committing a criminal offence.
The development comes at a time when several PDM officials have been arrested and some charged and sentenced over extorting money from beneficiaries or stealing PDM funds.
In one of the latest cases, a bodaboda rider in Kitgum district was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing sh29m belonging to Pagwok PDM SACCOs in Namukora sub-county. Kitgum chief magistrate Robert Ekirita Nashiro convicted Patrick Candida, 31, on July 10, on his own plea of guilty. In addition to sentencing him to eight years in prison, the magistrate ordered Candida to refund the sh29m to the SACCOs.
President Yoweri Museveni has time and again warned SACCOs leaders entrusted with PDM cash against mismanaging the funds, saying offenders will face prosecution.
During his 2026 campaign, President Museveni announced plans to double the annual allocation from sh100m to sh200m per parish, citing the programme’s potential to lift millions out of subsistence farming.
In February 2022, President Museveni launched the PDM as a multi-sectoral strategy for transforming subsistence households into the money economy.