The Parish Development Model (PDM) is one of the programs that according to me is going to serve the common Ugandan better.
This is because of its uniqueness that it targets the people at the grassroots and if well managed, it will serve the common person better.
The revolving fund, if well utilized, will help many people to get into production and the results would spur more development in Uganda.
I see the Middle-income status dream fast getting real.
For Uganda to realize her economic dreams and otherwise, there is urgent need to bring services closer to the people by strengthening the sub-county as the lowest planning unit and the Parish as the administrative and operational hub for all government services, and I must commend the framers of the Parish Development Model for premising its design and implementation strategy on this reality.
The Third National Development Plan (NDPIII) also emphasizes the Local Economic Development which can easily catapult the economy to middle income statues, and this I applaud the national Planning experts for their wisdom.
However, I think that the development culture in Uganda has suffered so many setbacks which in most cases have been due to human error and I can state without fear that we need to keep vigilant concerning the remaining government programs especially the Parish Development Model, which I have so much faith in.
The other day, I met and had a chat with Dr. Ezra Suruma, who is the current Chancellor of Makerere University and former Minister for Finance and as we talked, the Parish development Model came into the discussion. By the time we finished the discussion, we had agreed that for a more sustainable development discourse in Uganda, the Parish Development Model should be implemented with great commitment and at some point, the program should evolve into a commercial National bank and it is on this premise that I wish to propose that the Parish Development Model a should be nurtured to evolve into a National Bank.
In my thinking, Uganda needs a national Bank, with a branch in every district in the whole country which can provide banking services and inexpensive loans to the common people. My brothers in Kitambi, Kigarama with sizeable pineapple plantations would then access cheat credit to venture into value addition and or improve their agricultural practices, and this would cushion them from the highly costly credit from our current commercial banks.
Uganda currently has 146 Districts, and with an average staff of 20 per branch, this would already create about 2920 direct jobs. Given the fact that each of these would have a household depending on them, I see about the same number of households being salvaged.
Humble thoughts from Kigarama! This is my humble opinion!
