As President Yoweri Museveni embarked on the first leg of his performance assessment tour of Parish Development Model (PDM) in Bukedi Sub-Region on November8, 2024, there was no shortage of the customary cynicism from the usual quarters. The happiness of the PDM beneficiaries as they welcome their President is the ire of the critics, for reasons best known to them.
Surprisingly or not, a section of Ugandans have not understood the concept of PDM, its workings and objectives. That’s how some come to regard it as a “hand out” scheme, before lobbing all sorts of negative reviews about its likely performance. The common argument is that handouts cannot uplift people out of poverty. Okay! Even if this was a handout scheme, what alternatives do the critics have to propose? If you say, build infrastructure, set up industries for processing, give money to established farmers and producers to expand their capacity which will have a ripple effect with benefits to smallholder farmers, what new thing would you have brought on board? Infrastructure is constantly being improved in the country. Even under PDM, Pillar number 2 is precisely about that; “Infrastructure and Economic Development”- which undertakes a number of activities including the improvement of community access roads, removal of choke points from the community roads, establishment and upgrading of community markets.” Nobody has advocated for value-addition than President Museveni and gone on to support processors of varying capacities. Nobody has supported model farmers like the President.
When someone says that the President should be visiting and demonstrating mechanised farms and ultramodern processing factories, again there is nothing notable that hasn’t been considered under the policy framework in promoting modernisation of agriculture. Nobody should claim that government is pushing for more production capacity without considering the outlet for the extra produce. Industry is driven more by necessity. As long as Ugandans produce ample quantities and there is global demand, the next stage is industrialisation. Although there is a deliberate effort to fasttrack that sector, too, for instance through the industrial parks set up in different sub-regions.
It is a gievn that in lowly developed societies of this era, a lot of time is spent debating “ifs”. Less time is invested into doing things practically, even if for experimentation purposes. And more time goes into criticising. Information platforms are breaking with people living in fantasy, burning hours and data imagining that they will get rich quick through gambling or landing a foreigner with loose millions to give away. Others have made policking their full time business and jobs, wherein they will look out for whatever doesn’t please them and take it up as a national concern. Others see the President in his political hat as NRM National Chairman, ignoring that he is a President for all. When he is carrying out national duties, he serves all, which is why, for example, PDM has not been earmarked for members of a particular political group or any other categorisation. All that one needs to qualify to benefit is being in the subsistence economy but ready to progress into prosperity.
How PDM works is quite simple; every parish/ward in the country is given Shs100milion per year. This money goes to 100 people, with each beneficiary getting Shs1million. This money is invested in the agriculture value-chain to expand capacity of production, marketing and, if possible, value addition. Before beneficiaries get this money, they are taken through a financial literacy training for them to determine the enterprise best suited for them. The money is then disbursed to them through wendi app to their phone mobile money accounts. Each of the benefiaciaries has two years in which to repay this money into the PDM SACCO account at the respective parish/ward and a grace period of one year, making 36 months in total.
This means that a beneficiary can reinvest this money in the enterprise a number of times depending on the cycle of the enterprise he or she is in, before paying back.
The one million “reproduces” several times before the due date. What is most important is for beneficiaries to master the calculations of their enterprises. After a time, with consistency and expertise, wealth is created.
From among the PDM beneficiaries, we shall soon have large scale commercial scale producers, processors, exporters and employers, working together under the SACCO arrangement.
Therefore, PDM money is not a “handout”. It’s an empowerment scheme. The money isn’t for eating but for production purposes, moreover on a clarified business model.
There is time for everything. Let’s always do things in their season. If a program is organised to assess the performance of a particular initiative, let all lend their support to that program instead of bringing diversionary discussions. In fact, if the President has his own program that doesn’t stop other leaders and citizens doing supplementary assessment to help deepen these new wealth creation programmes. None of these initiatives is cast in stone. Changes and improvements can and will always be done, depending on the need.
As a communication specialist, I fully acknowledge the right of citizens to ask questions or make inquiries on what’s going on, more so when it has to do with their President. He is a transparent and engaging leader who doesn’t shy away from public scrutiny. That’s partly why he is in the countryside, with the people to appreciate how they are absorbing the initiatives tailored for their benefit, the challenges faced, the successes and to gauge any need for changes. Are the critics positing that PDM shouldn’t be assessed at all? Are they friends, or enemies of progress, as the President usually classifies them?
On top of field tours, President Museveni regularly communicates through addresses to the nation and through his social media platforms, or issues statements giving his take on matters of national importation. That way, he informs and guides Ugandans and garners feedback which is incorporated in policy and government plans. Let people ask questions but those questions should be relevant and purposeful in line with the business at hand. I am certain that the “PDM tours” of the President-next he was headed for Teso sub-region- will bear fruit.
The author is the Special Assistant to H.E the President of Uganda-Press and Mobilisation
Contact: faruk.kirunda@statehouse.go.ug
0776980486/0783990861
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