KAMPALA: The Minister for the Presidency Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda has appealed to the leaders and residents of Kampala city to wholeheartedly embrace government’s new program- the Parish Development Model (PDM), if they are to fight their common enemy in the country known as poverty.
The Minister made the humble plea on Thursday during the PDM sensitisation campaign where she met city stakeholders led by Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Executive Director Dorothy Kisaka.
Hon Babalanda explained that poverty is not a permanent state as many people would like to believe and can be eliminated through developmental programs like PDM.
“It is indeed a state of mind. A person can decide to change their mindset and either come out of poverty or remain in impoverishment,” Hon Babalanda asserted, before thanking the people of Kampala for always supporting government developmental initiatives.
“It is therefore my humble appeal to you to participate in and support this program. The Program is well constituted to help drive poverty out of communities.It is hoped that this Program will also deal with communication and mobilization gaps between the KCCA and the communities.”
Mrs Babalanda also explained that government decided to come up with PDM after observing that people at the very lower levels do not effectively participate in developmental initiatives because information about programs ends at the top administrative or at the Division levels.
“Yet the lower level people are the ones that largely drive the development activities such as business or even artisanries….For Example; there are many programs initiated by the President but many of them have not seen good success because the leaders who should have supported them did not do so. Lack of political will by the leaders and the people having negative attitudes are important mindset issues that cause poverty in our communities,”she said.
However, Mrs Babalanda cautioned leaders against using PDM to promote political views, hatred, anger, propaganda or tribal divisions.
“Indeed, you need to be very careful when identifying the members to participate in the program. For Example, the members of the PDM SACCOs should be well constituted and focused on the developmental initiatives being supported. All those eyeing the SACCOs to steal the funds will also be discovered and eliminated. Please be mindful that the funds need to go-round to other members.
You should only recommend the people you know of and those you stay with etc. Kampala is very big and there will be people coming to your areas with the purpose of registering and then making off with the money to other unknown locations. The chairpersons of villages and wards should have their eyes wide open,”the Minister urged.
She further advised that leaders , especially the Parish Chiefs should be highly supportive and knowledgeable about the initiative for proper implementation.
“You should not be found embezzling the funds; neither to divert from the guidelines provided. Also, you should ensure that the data about the program is properly collected and recorded in the databases.The Parish chiefs should engage with the RCCs to educate the masses using the very many radio stations in Kampala. Media is a very important tool of the program in Kampala where the radio listenership is so high,” the Hon Minister said.
“You should also ensure that there is value for money in all the enterprises supported and that the funds are duly used for value additions and to expand the enterprises.”
During its launch in February, 2022, President Yoweri Museveni said through PDM, Government will take services to the people in a more effective way and receive actionable feedback from them on wealth creation and Government-provided services to quicken socio-economic transformation.
H.E the President explained that the program will reduce the number of the core poor – who work for the stomach as well as deal with the remaining challenge of raising family incomes.
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