Nwoya district struggles to recover swindled PDM funds

Nwoya district is yet to fully recover funds swindled by civil servants meant for the implementation of the Parish Development Model.

This comes nearly four months after an internal audit unearthed the misappropriation of shillings 243 million meant to facilitate PDM implementation for the FY 2021/22.

145 million Shillings has so far been recovered from six civil servants implicated in the misappropriation of the fund since the intervention of Jovrine Kalisa, the Deputy National Coordinator of PDM.

The latest recovery of 30.6 million Shillings was made on Tuesday last week after the arrest of the former Nwoya District Chief Administrative Officer Andrew Leru.

Leru who is now the Obongi Chief Administrative Officer had been implicated along with five other Nwoya district staff for the misappropriation of the PDM fund.

Emmanuel Orach, the Nwoya district chairperson says that the district received the 30.6 million Shillings recovered from Leru on Tuesday last week.

He says whereas the recovery is steadily yielding, a portion of the money is yet to be recovered from those implicated.

Orach notes that the recovered fund has since been disbursed to the various accounts of the different Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations (SACCO) in the 44 parishes.

He says they are working round the clock to ensure that the money is fully recovered to aid the implementation of the PDM in the district.

“We have so far made progress in the recovery of the PDM fund this year, the money is now in the hands of the beneficiaries. All we are working hard now is to make a full recovery of the fund,” says Orach.

Nwoya Resident District Commissioner Christopher Omara lauded the intervention of the PDM secretariat in spearheading the recovery of the diverted fund. He however says two civil servants implicated in the mismanagement of the fund are yet to return the money.

Omara says those accused who are in the department of finance have been given one month to refund the remaining 98 million shillings or face prosecution.

“We are happy with the progress of the recovery of PDM in the district since the beneficiaries will now start implementing their projects. We are hoping to make full recovery once two staff of the district refund what they took,” says Omara.

Nwoya District Local Government received a total of 417 million Shillings from the government for the implementation of PDM in the financial year 2021/22.

Out of the money disbursed, 262.8 million Shillings was meant for Parish revolving fund, 44 million Shillings for Administrative Costs, 60.3 million Shillings for staff costs, and 49.8 million Shillings for gadget procurement.

Two weeks ago, the district leaders confirmed another disbursement of 1.1 billion Shillings from the government for the implementation of the PDM in the 44 parishes.