By: Ismael Kasooha

MITYANA

The Mityana Diocese Vicar General Msgr. Lawrence Mukasa has asked government not to rush in giving out Parish Development model cash but ensure the beneficiaries are sensitized first to achieve its intended goal of reducing people outside the money economy.

The government is currently rolling out the Parish Development model in all parishes in the country and teams of ministers and members of parliament are on ground.

While celebrating holy mass during a fundraising drive for St. Kizito Kyengeza Catholic Church in Mityana district Msgr Mukasa said that the programme is good but requires thorough sensitization of the masses.

The Prime Minister being welcomed to Mityana District by leaders

“If you give these people money so hurriedly they might think it’s a thank you and they end up feasting on it and the objective of reducing subsistence at household level,” said Mukasa.

He said that the government should ensure that sensitization is intensified so that the people understand the model to the dot.

Msgr Mukasa appealed to Christians to always love their parents and also assist them in their old age because Jesus was clear on that.

The prime minister of Uganda Robinah Nabbanja who was the chief guest at the fundraising said that the government is now collecting data from all villages in the country for baseline information so that evaluation of the intervention is empirical.

“We have sent Uganda Bureau of statistics (UBOS) to collect data so that we know the kind of people we are dealing with in all villages,” said Nabbanja.

She said that PDM targets the 39% of Ugandans who are trapped in the non-cash economy so that they also enter the cash economy.

Nabbanja asked religious leaders to also support the PDM because when the believers’ household incomes increase they will also contribute to church projects.

“This programme should be supported by all religious leaders and politicians because it is meant to improve the livelihoods of the people. When the incomes increase their capacity to contribute to national development shall consequently increase,” said Nabbanja.

She asked Arts Teachers to return to school because the government does not have money to pay them and they are punishing the children and parents.

Nabbanja said that the democracy ushered in by the NRM government is undisputable because if the country was not democratic Joyce Bagala from the National Unity Platform wouldn’t have trounced Judith Nabakooba from the NRM.

Gaffa Mbwatekamwa challenged the National Unity Platform to also start contributing to noble causes instead of keeping at Magere.

Agnes Kirabo, the Youth member of Parliament central region, challenged the youth to guard against HIV like they did for Covid-19 pandemic.

During the fundraising organised by the Busunju County legislator David Kalwanga and Joyce Bagala the woman Member of Parliament for Mityana district over 100 million shillings was realised in cash and pledges.

The prime minister contributed 10 million shillings towards the completion of the Church.

PARISH DEVELOPMENT MODEL

The Model positions the PARISH as the epicenter of multi-sectoral community development, planning, implementation, supervision and accountability. Parish as the lowest reference unit for planning, budgeting and delivery of interventions to drive socio-economic transformation. The PDM will create Wealth, Employment and increase Household Incomes.

The PDM has seven Pillars i.e.

(1) Production, Storage, Processing and Marketing;

(2) Infrastructure and Economic Services;

(3) Financial Inclusion;

(4) Social Services;

(5) Mindset change;

(6) Parish Based Management Information System

(7) Governance and Administration.

The PDM is therefore a Government approach that delivers a package of services and entails;

  • The Model proposes building infrastructure and systems that support processing and marketing of Uganda’s agricultural products.
  • Generating data on house-holds country-wide to inform Government interventions.
  • Farmers at Parish level will be coordinated through area-based commodity clusters in order to increase production and productivity that will create sustainable agricultural production.
  • Farmers will get access to Agricultural extension services, finance business Management training.
  • Build infrastructure and systems that support processing and marketing of Uganda’s agricultural products.
  • Strengthen participatory planning by local communities to collectively identify and address systemic bottlenecks that affect local economic development.
  • Addressing vulnerability among youth, women, PWDs at the grassroots by developing and Implementing Action Plans for inclusion of disadvantaged interest groups

Priority Commodities for the Parish Model include

Coffee, Cotton, Cocoa, Cassava, Tea, Vegetable Oils (Inc. Oil Palm), Maize, Rice, Sugar Cane, Fish, Diary, Beef, Bananas, Beans, Avocado, Shea Nut, Cashew Nuts, Macadamia

The PDM is aligned to the following 5 strategic objectives of the NDPIII.

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