PMA not friendly to rural folk

SIR-The recent progress report by the Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture (PMA) Secretariat shows that sh2bn has been disbursed to districts and subcounties to implement various MPA projects. The report is silent on which communities have received this money and how much or for what. It only talks of 'sensitisation and training programmes to eligible districts'. However, it is in this so called capacity building that government and local bureaucrats are able to siphon huge sums. The local farmer will not be able to access the money and no tangible results will come out since the financing procedures are not friendly to the rural folk. Unless PMA targets the local initiatives, the outcome will not be different from the valley dam disaster. The intentions of the PMA programme are well focused and could go a long way in alleviating the rampant poverty in the countryside but that is only if there is strict monitoring and premium put on local initiative. Lilian Kasirye, Kiboga