President Yoweri Museveni has warned locals in the West Nile region to desist from borrowing Parish Development Model (PDM) funds to bury their dead relatives.
Museveni told the leaders that the funds are not miscellaneous funding which needs to be spent on activities like burials and marriages but meant for targeted interventions that have regional, national and international demands.
He advised the beneficiaries to borrow the funds to buy seedlings to plant coffee and fruits, especially for people with small acreages of land adding that those with huge chunks of land can grow sugarcane.
The President made the remarks yesterday while addressing leaders from the region at the Arua Golf Grounds.
Meanwhile, the president reiterated that the government will not allow the PDM funds to be diverted by selfish individuals, warning that those who will mismanage the funds will suffer dire consequences.
Denis Galabuzi Ssozi, the PDM National Coordinator explained that although the progress of the beneficiary household preparation in the region is still low, they have already disbursed 20.8 billion Shillings to all the 828 PDM SACCOs in West Nile.
He further notes that only 3.5 billion Shillings out of the total disbursement of 20.8 billion shillings have already been utilized by the beneficiaries in the region.