482 Arrested Over PDM Funds, Corruption, Says Brig Isoke
The Head of the Anti-Corruption Unit at State House, Brig. Gen. Henry Isoke, has disclosed that over 482 people have been arrested by the unit and charged in courts of law for misappropriating Parish Development Model (PDM) funds and other government programmes.
Out of that number, 261 are civil servants who have already appeared in court and been interdicted, and over 200 civilians have also been charged, with 79 convicted.
Gen. Isoke added that this year alone, 36 suspects have appeared in court, of whom 20 are government officials.
The Head of the ACU at State House was on Friday giving an overview report to members of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Parliamentary Caucus attending a 10-day retreat at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi, on their investigations about the mismanagement of the Parish Development Model (PDM) funds in Acholi sub-region.
State House said the misappropriation of PDM funds was recently unearthed by President Museveni during his ‘Investment and Wealth Creation’ tour in the area on February 24, 2023.
This report comes against the backdrop of complaints received by the President from locals he met at Kaunda Grounds in Gulu City on the mismanagement of the PDM programme in Acholi sub-region.
Following the complaints, President Museveni directed Brig. Gen. Isoke to investigate all the allegations and bring all officials found to be culpable to book.
Brig. Gen. Isoke and his team swiftly swung into action and discovered that there was a lot of extortion from the public by government officials mandated to handle the PDM programme.
“There was extortion from the public of between 5,000 and 80,000 Uganda Shillings per person for registration, opening bank accounts, or helping beneficiaries fill out forms,” he said.
Brig. Gen. Isoke added that the locals were kept in total blackout; they were not sensitized about the programme especially on how to access PDM funds. He further told MPs that the wanainchi were informed of the PDM programme at very short notice to organize themselves, including the formation of the SACCOs.
Brig. Gen. Isoke, however, observed that under normal circumstances, the formation of a SACCO is an elaborate process that requires adequate time for its establishment.
“The Commercial Officers, Production Agents, and LCs gave town agents in Gulu only 3 days to organize themselves, choose leaders, agree on the enterprise projects, verify who qualifies, open bank accounts, and register the enterprise constitution,” he said.
Brig. Isoke added that their investigation also discovered that roles were switched, as what should have been done by households was now being carried out by the town agents, who acted on behalf of the beneficiaries.
They also found out that there were delays in data collection and that loan application forms were very lengthy and written only in the English language.
Isoke says he identified corrupt practices in the implementation of the PDM project
Fraud
The ACU team further discovered that there was fraudulent accounting by the officials implementing the PDM programme, citing, among others; they claimed training for 32 town agents, an allegation that was only in ink and paper, yet no agent received any training. The team further unearthed the existence of ghost PDM staff and the sale of the SACCO Constitution for between 25,000 and 50,000 Uganda shillings.
Brig. Gen. Isoke therefore told MPs of their recommendations, among them fixing all gaps that President Museveni, in his tour of the sub-region, discovered and validated by his investigating team as being very true.
“While the PDM remains the magic bullet to transform the remaining 39% of the population from peasantry to a money economy and could be one of the landmark achievements by the NRM government, the gaps identified, if not fixed in time, will be exploited by the reactionary forces,” Brig. Gen. Isoke noted.
He also informed the retreat of the actions so far taken, which include the arrest of government officials; six of them have already been arraigned in court and charged with different offences.
“Among those arrested, arraigned, and charged in court is the Commercial Officer of Gulu City, Komakech Atem. In Kitgum district, we have arrested district officials, including the CAO, who diverted PDM funds amounting to over 526 million Uganda Shillings, and they are on remand.”
Brig. Isoke, who asked the MPs to be vigilant and join in the fight to wipe out corruption perpetuated by government officials, provided them with toll free numbers of 0800202500 and 0778202500 on WhatsApp, as well as a clientele desk that operates 24 hours a day.
He further recommended to MPs to have a robust monitoring mechanism and the provision of harmonized PDM guidelines for the implementers, as well as proper coordination of all stakeholders, including sister security agencies, on sharing information and a stringent immediate action to expose and hold those found culpable accountable for their evil deeds.
He pledged the commitment of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit to intensify its efforts in fighting corruption in the country as well as work with other anti-corruption agencies, MDAs, and all other stakeholders to protect all government programs geared at enhancing effective service delivery, getting the people of Uganda out of poverty, and making them join the money economy.
“Fighting together, we shall defeat corruption,” Brig. Gen. Isoke vowed.
On the same occasion, the Deputy Director General of the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) Lt. Col. Emmy Katabazi, briefed members of the NRM Caucus on the new tools that the government has developed for enhancing their work.
He commended MPs for supporting them by appropriating funds to ISO that have enabled them to acquire some vehicles that have now eased their work.
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