The government yesterday announced a significant financial disbursement aimed at fostering economic growth and financial inclusion in communities across the country.
The Minister for Finance, Mr Matia Kasaija, said a total of Shs529b had been released to all verified Parish Development Model (PDM) Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (Saccos). This initiative is expected to impact 10,589 parishes, with each parish receiving Shs50m as the first tranche for the 2025/2026 Financial Year.
‘The funds are to reach every parish on Wednesday directly through their Sacco accounts. This money is strictly for investment and production for the objective of transforming households into productive engines of Uganda’s economy, not for personal benefits nor campaigning since we are in the election period. No beneficiary should be charged any fee to access the loans,’ he added.
He warned that RDCs, DISOs, and accounting officers must take firm action against any fraudsters or extortionists.
‘Sacco leaders must ensure proper selection, monitoring, and loan recovery for stronger parish economies. Anyone who abuses the PDM system will be punished according to the law, firmly and swiftly,’ Mr Kasaija added.
Since its inception, Mr Kasaija said Shs3.261 trillion has directly been transferred to parishes, reaching 3.27 million Ugandans. He explained that most beneficiaries have invested in agriculture and enterprise, including Shs385b in coffee, Shs1.1 trillion in food and other cash crops, Shs1.1 trillion in livestock, mainly piggery, and Shs366b in poultry, among others.
For the case of densely populated parishes, especially in the urban settlements, Mr Kasaija said these will receive more funds in the next year. ‘By the year 2023, when this programme started, a census hadn’t happened yet, but after it, we realised that some parishes are bigger with a higher population than others, and it isn’t realistic to receive the same amount.
For that case, the bigger parishes will get more money as the President had promised, like Shs300m, and this will be implemented in the next financial year.’ Mr Godfrey Ssemugooma, the accountant general at the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, said so far Shs650m has been disbursed, adding that the programme is a revolving fund, where it advances back in the particular Sacco and not government profits.
‘As of today, we’ve received Shs650m in repayments, and we need to emphasise that this money is not for the government but repaying into their parish Sacco, so that they can lend the money to other beneficiaries within the parish. This is a revolving fund where the government continues to capitalise the fund,’ he said.
Mr Ssemugooma added: ‘And we encourage people to repay, so that the other beneficiaries within the parish can benefit, for those who took loans and have hit two years, start repaying so that more people can benefit from the programme.’ For the current financial year, the government has also allocated Shs1.097 trillion in new capital and facilitation to sustain PDM growth.
This includes Shs1.1 trillion for the Parish Revolving Fund, Shs5.3b for Sacco administration, Shs4.2b for loan withdrawal charges, Shs4.7b supporting PWDs, Shs10.6b for parish development committees, and Shs12.7b in duty facilitation for parish chiefs and town agents.
By the time of PDM’s launch, an estimated 42 percent of Ugandans were experiencing multidimensional poverty, according to the 2022 Uganda Bureau of Statistics Multidimensional Poverty Index. Three financial years after rollout, PDM had reached 832,746 households, according to the 2024 National Population and Housing Census, with 3.5 million households, about 33.1 percent of the population, remaining in subsistence.
PDM funds
The funds are to reach every parish on Wednesday directly through their Sacco accounts. This money is strictly for investment and production for the objective of transforming households into productive engines of Uganda’s economy, not for personal benefits nor campaigning since we are in the election period. No beneficiary should be charged any fee to access the loans- Minister for Finance, Matia Kasaija.