Officials in the Ministry of Finance and 49 districts in the implementation of the Parish Development Model (PDM) face accountability queries after it emerged that they dished out about Shs30 billion to a total of 3,214 unregistered or ghost saccos.
This is contrary to guidelines issued by the PDM Secretariat and the Ministry of Finance, directing monies be sent only to registered Saccos that signed Parish Revolving Fund (PRF) Financing Agreements.
The revelation in the Auditor General Report came as Parliament adopted and opened debate on sub-regional oversight reports on the PDM.
Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, during yesterday’s plenary sitting, said most of the issues were cross cutting for all the regions.
He said some of the outstanding challenges raised by the MPs include disproportionate allocations where parishes with different populations are allocated the same amount of funds, delayed access to funds by Saccos, ever changing guidelines.
While the accounting officers explained that the non-existent or unregistered saccos received PDM cash to avoid the sweep back of funds to the consolidated account, the Auditor General, John Muwanga, noted in his latest report to Parliament that this led to funding of ineligible Saccos, which negatively affected the objective of wealth creation and employment generation.
Some of the implicated districts include Wakiso, Bududa, Sironko, Namisindwa, Bulambuli, Manafwa, Kasese and Kyenjojo, all of which spent above Shs1billion on ineligible Saccos.
