As part of the countrywide sensitisation drive and launch of the Parish Development Model (PDM) by members of Cabinet of Uganda, I was privileged to be assigned to oversee Kampala City. I worked with colleague ministers, political leaders and technical staff of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to introduce, explain and deepen the program so that Kampalans can embrace it.
Our aim was for Kampala, being the capital City of Uganda, to be a leading example in PDM implementation. Blessed with a large population and being centrally located, Kampala can have a great influence on the success of the program countrywide, despite its unique challenges.
My role in the meetings was to make the necessary emphasis on explanations provided by my colleagues on the foundation and guidelines of PDM. We live in extraordinary times, when economic demands and expectations are high, especially for urban dwellers, and there is no better time to wage war against our common enemy in this country called “Poverty”.
Poverty is not a permanent state as many people would like Ugandans to believe. Poverty can be eliminated. It all depends on what someone has decided to do about it. 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.
All that needs to be done is to make people believe that they can step out of the poverty ditch, show them where the opportunities are and empower them.
We cannot attribute poverty to ancestral curses. We attribute it to ourselves and our hesitation to make use of available policies and programs. We also blame ourselves (the leaders) for failure to adequately prepare our people to make the big step into prosperity.
There are many programs initiated by the President Yoweri Museveni 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.
H.E the President even moved out of his way and gave hard cash in form of revolving funds to some ghetto groups in Kampala and other urban centers but the members chose to consume the funds and failed to pay back and there was no value for money traced anywhere.
Indeed also, my colleague, Hon. Peter Ogwang, has been moving throughout Kampala and discovered several individuals that made off with funds and equipment provided by State House. The stories of this nature are everywhere and they are caused by a poverty mindset that does not look at the bigger picture in resolving their poverty situation.
Therefore, PDM comes as a new operation against poverty. Government has consistently observed that the very lower levels in Kampala do not effectively participate in development initiatives because information about programs ends at the KCCA or even at the Division level. Yet the lower level people are the ones that largely drive the development activities such as business or even artisanries.
Kampala is a melting pot of people of all sorts of views and thinking, visitors who just pass through and many political camps with divergent positions on many things. But the bottomline is that Kampalans want services, they want to be in the money economy so that they earn better incomes and send back to their relatives back home in the countryside and develop their home towns.
Kampalans should set an example for other Ugandans on buying into Government programs.
The leaders in Kampala should promote PDM without discrimination. It should not to be used to promote political divisions, to promote hatred, anger, propaganda and other such divisions.
Indeed, there is need for great caution when identifying the members to participate in the program. 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 be discovered and eliminated. The funds need to go round to other members.
Care should be taken to recommend people who are known and who are residents of a given area. Kampala is very big and there will be people coming in 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!
These ‘bafere’ will position themselves and try to confuse people to make PDM fail and to make Government look bad. But they cannot defeat the good intentions of Government when leaders at all levels in mobilise and sensitise the population continuously to love, understand and own the program.
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 for rallying the public and explaining any sticking issues.
I thank leaders who have lent their support to PDM, including those who do not belong to NRM, like Member of Parliament (MP) Nakawa East, Hon. Ronald Balimwezo. This gentleman has shown that with development programs politics comes last.
It is, therefore, my humble appeal that all leaders participate in and support this PDM. They should not betray their people and deprive them of opportunity to break the poverty barrier in a time of economic struggle. The Program is well constituted to help drive poverty out of communities.
It is goes without saying that anybody found embezzling the funds or working outside guidelines provided will be handled very firmly. Excuses of being influenced by superiors or supervisory negligence (and this applies nationally) will not be tolerated.
There must be value- for-money in all the enterprises supported and the funds should be used for value-addition, to expand the enterprises and to keep the money working for communities. It’s that simple!
The author is the Minister for the Presidency
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