Police and other law enforcement agencies have arrested 552 people suspected of stealing or mismanaging funds under the government\u2019s Parish Development Model (PDM), with 492 already presented before court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The arrests follow a nationwide operation launched on August 4, 2026, targeting individuals suspected of diverting or abusing funds intended to boost household incomes and help subsistence families transition into the money economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The operation involves several Police departments, including Crime Intelligence, Criminal Investigations, ICT and Operations, as well as the Professional Standards Unit. Other participating institutions include the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Judiciary, the Internal Security Organisation (ISO), Resident City and District Commissioners, Chief Administrative Officers and civil society representatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to figures released by the authorities, 492 of the 552 suspects arrested, representing approximately 89 per cent, have appeared in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The suspects face various charges, including theft, forgery, embezzlement, obtaining money by false pretences, conspiracy to defraud, extortion and cheating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those arrested include 251 Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisation (SACCO) leaders, 81 parish chiefs, 25 Parish Development Committee leaders, 23 local council leaders, 23 teachers and five District Commercial Officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The enforcement operation has so far covered 12 Police regional jurisdictions across Karamoja, Teso, Bugisu, Sebei, Bukedi and Busoga, as well as parts of Buganda, including Luweero and Wakiso districts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Parish Development Model is a government programme intended to help households engaged in subsistence production join the money economy by supporting income-generating activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the programme, funds are channelled to eligible beneficiaries through SACCOs operating at parish level, enabling them to invest in activities that can improve their earnings and livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities have warned that the alleged theft and mismanagement of PDM funds threaten the programme\u2019s objectives by denying intended beneficiaries access to resources meant to support their economic transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nationwide operation is aimed at identifying and prosecuting individuals suspected of abusing the programme\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police and other law enforcement agencies have arrested 552 people suspected of stealing or mismanaging funds under the government\u2019s Parish Development Model (PDM), with 492 already presented before court. The arrests follow a nationwide operation launched on August 4, 2026, targeting individuals suspected of diverting or abusing funds intended to boost household incomes and help […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":43992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[356,98],"tags":[31,109,8327,144,119],"class_list":["post-43991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big-story","category-news","tag-featured","tag-news","tag-pdm","tag-uganda","tag-uganda-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27983"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43993,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43991\/revisions\/43993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugmirror.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}