Senior Presidential advisor on Poverty alleviation in Busoga subregion, Florence Mutyabule has decried corruption among Ugandans, which she says has failed government programs.
Speaking to Busoga Today, Mutyabule says government has on several occasions introduced different programs aimed at developing Ugandans which end up in vain due to corruption.
Government came up with Entandikwa, Bonabagagawale, NADS, Youth livelihood, Emyooga and the current Parish Development Model (PDM). These have always been challenged and criticized by some Ugandans especially opposition politicians.
Mutyabule admits that in some areas, the programs have had no impact while in some parts, they have been successful and a number of people have benefited.
“I somehow concur with the critiques at a point, but the problem always is corruption,” she says.
“I believe the president has learnt a lot, that is why he is very tough these days when it comes to corruption,” Mutyabule noted.
Busoga subregion, according to Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) and other None Government Organizations, has always been on top of the regions in Uganda below the poverty line. This has been attributed to unemployment, gander-based violence, early marriages among others.
Mutyabule asked Busoga leaders to rally locals in development. She claims that leaders have been reluctant and selfish especially in government programs for development.
“If it is leadership, Busoga has had a number of leaders both at national and international levels. We had Vice Presidents, Prime Ministers, Speaker of Parliament among others on top seats, but still Busoga hosts maximum poverty,” she said.
“What have we really done as leaders to ensure Busoga gets hell out of poverty,” she added.
Like president Yoweri Museveni, the advisor also believes that Parish Development Model (PDM) is the program to trigger development in the region and Uganda in particular. She says government is determined enough to ensuring development in the pearl of Africa.
According to the recently read budget for the financial year 2023/24 commencing on July 1, PDM was allocated with shs.1.1 trillion.
“PDM will boost household incomes as well as small enterprises. Since it’s launch in February 2022, a total of shs.590.2 billion have been disbursed to all 10,459 parishes national-wide, translating it to shs.50 million per parish,” reads the budget.
“I call upon Ugandans to seriously embrace this program (PDM). Government is so determined and focused on this issue and has played it’s part of producing money, it’s you to implement it,” she said, asking beneficiaries to effectively utilize the money.
