The Auditor General, Edward Akol, has revealed that only UGX 9.340 billion has so far been recovered from beneficiaries of the Parish Development Model (PDM) despite government having released more than UGX 3.2 trillion to SACCOs across the country.
Akol made the disclosure on 29 January 2026 while presenting the December 2025 Annual Audit Report to Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, exposing deep weaknesses in the recovery and management of PDM funds.
“I noted that of the beneficiaries who received PRF by December 2022, a total of 18,105 beneficiaries in 709 SACCOs in 30 local governments had commenced voluntary recovery and a sum of UGX 9.340 billion had been recovered. However, there was no evidence of preparedness for recovery in all local governments,” Akol told Parliament.
The Auditor General further disclosed that although UGX 3.258 trillion had been released by government to 10,589 PDM SACCOs, only UGX 2.75 trillion (84%) had reached households by the end of the 2024/25 financial year, leaving UGX 508.6 billion undisbursed.
“I noted that out of UGX 3,258.937 billion released cumulatively by Government, only UGX 2,750.290 billion (84 percent) was disbursed to households… leaving UGX 508.646 billion (16 percent) undisbursed,” Akol said.
The audit also highlighted serious governance failures in the programme, including ghost projects, diversion of funds, duplicate beneficiaries, delays in disbursement and funding of ineligible projects.
In response, Speaker Anita Among warned that the continued misuse of PDM money was undermining the programme’s purpose of lifting poor households out of poverty.
“As we appropriate monies, we want so many people out there, like the PDM, who want the money to reach the final user, to the final beneficiary. But the problem we have is the diversion of these monies. The problem we have is the money does not go to the intended beneficiary,” Among said.
She urged the Auditor General to tighten oversight on the programme, saying stronger audits were needed to protect the poor.
“Auditor General, we want you to whip. This money should go to the right people. Because we cannot appropriate the money and then we have 70 percent of the people who are rich and the 30 percent cannot get anything. We want you to make sure that this money reaches the right people,” she added.
Among also linked the success of the ruling NRM in the recent elections to communities that genuinely benefited from the PDM.
“By the way, our votes, most of the votes we got, were because of the people who got the money rightfully — PDM money,” she said.
However, she warned that failures in the programme could reverse that political goodwill.
“When you look at the report… there are delays in disbursements, some people are getting money twice while others get nothing, and there is lack of alignment to parish priorities. This can only be discovered by this team,” Among said, referring to the Auditor General’s office.
The revelations raise fresh concerns about whether the government’s flagship poverty-reduction programme is reaching the intended beneficiaries — or being undermined by weak controls and corruption at the local level.
