By Bazio Doreen.

“I joined service in December 2024 but I have never received my salary arrears.”

For Ambayo Godfrey, an Education Assistant at Elegu Primary School, those words describe nearly two years of working without the financial benefit expected from a government job.

He made the statement on 7^th October 2026 at an Inspectorate of Government (IGG) Ombudsman Clinic in Adjumani Town Council, where current and former public servants brought complaints about unpaid salaries, pension calculations, payroll records and employment procedures.

His was not the only grievance.

Another teacher said she could not access a loan because her employment details remained on an old payroll system. A former senior government officer questioned his retirement benefits. A former town council speaker complained about unexplained deductions from councilors’ allowances.

Taken together, the cases reveal how administrative problems can become personal financial problems for public servants.

A national problem playing out locally.

The Adjumani clinic was organized as a pre-activity ahead of International Ombuds Day on 8^th October 2026.

This year’s theme is “Ombuds: Office of Options”, with the campaign slogan #TalkToTheOmbudsman. The IGG says its Ombudsman mandate covers maladministration, delays in service delivery, workplace victimization and other administrative injustices.

National statistics show why these complaints matter. In FY 2025/2026, Ombudsman matters accounted for 37 percent of all complaints investigated and concluded by the IGG.

The Inspectorate says it resolved 1,011 Ombudsman cases during the year and recommended Shs 2.353 billion for payment to people whose employment benefits had been denied or delayed.

The complaints most frequently received nationally include delayed salaries, pensions and gratuities, payroll access, delays in obtaining documents and workplace malpractice.

In Adjumani, those national statistics have names and faces. Ambayo’s complaint was perhaps the most direct. He joined public service in December 2024 but says he has not received a salary.

However, Igama Nobert, the District Principal Human Resources Officer, told the clinic that payroll problems can arise from mismatches between NIRA and payroll records.

He explained: “When you miss salary in June, you automatically miss the one for the next financial year, especially July.”

He said it can take up to four months to regain access to the payroll after harmonization and gazettement.

But Adjumani has experienced salary problems before.

In 2023, district officials reported that 447 employees had not received salaries for February and March, amounting to Shs 592 million, while the district reported a Shs 5.1 billion wage shortfall.

The history suggests that payroll and wage management deserve sustained attention rather than being treated solely as isolated individual cases.

For teacher Madraa Gloria Koma, the problem is different but the consequences are similar.

She told the clinic that her details had remained on Payroll-Based System (PBS) since 2024, even as other staff were migrated to Human Capital Management system (HCM).

The consequence, she said, is that: “I can’t get a loan.”

Igama confirmed that 17 staff members were still being paid through PBS because they had failed to migrate their details in time.

The district says staff with mismatches between PBS and NIRA records can request a waiver where they cannot harmonize their details.

For Opeli Steven, a former Senior Assistant Chief Administrative Officer and pensioner, the problem emerged at the end of his public-service career.

Opeli said his service was irregularly terminated in 2021 and that he retired in 2023 at the age of 47.

He told the clinic: “The pension and gratuity I received was inadequate and wrongly computed.”

Other former public servants raised complaints concerning underpayment of pension and gratuity and alleged irregularities surrounding the retirement of SACAOs and Parish Chiefs.

District officials said some pension cases are affected by missing documentation.

Igama explained that some former employees lack minutes confirming their appointment or confirmation of service, which are required when processing retirement benefits.

The staffing problem behind the complaints.

The administrative complaints are occurring within a wider staffing challenge.

In March 2026, Adjumani resumed recruitment for 59 public-service positions after protests disrupted the recruitment exercise. The district had an allocated Shs 810 million wage bill for the positions. Only 64 percent of the district’s human-resource positions were filled.

This is important because the effect of staffing shortages is not confined to government employees. When positions remain vacant, citizens can experience longer waiting times, fewer frontline workers and weaker access to government services.

Adjumani’s staffing challenge is particularly significant because the district serves both host communities and a substantial refugee population. A teacher’s problem becomes a community problem. The impact of public-service employment problems can extend beyond individual workers.

In 2024, Adjumani Teachers’ SACCO reported that teachers had failed to repay Shs 85 million in loans, with some loans dating as far back as 2017. The SACCO said some teachers were difficult to trace.

While the SACCO problem is not itself an Ombudsman complaint, it illustrates the wider economic consequences that can arise when public servants experience unstable incomes or administrative disruptions.

A delayed salary can affect loan repayment. A payroll migration problem can affect access to credit. A disputed pension calculation can affect retirement planning. An identification mismatch can delay employment benefits. Administrative systems may look technical from an office desk. For the person affected, they are not.

Francis Were, Ma’di Sub-Region Inspectorate Officer, believes communication is part of the solution.

“People complain because of a communication gap that needs to be addressed. Information should be shared on all available information platforms,” Were observes.

The statement goes to the heart of several grievances raised in Adjumani.

If an employee understands why a salary has been delayed, what document is missing or which institution must correct a record, they are better positioned to pursue a solution. If they do not, the problem can become a cycle of visits to different offices without resolution.

Hon. Osman Yusuf Shaban, Former Town Council Speaker, raised concerns about deductions from councillors’ sitting allowances.

He said: “Allowances of councilors was being deducted without clear reason from the Town Council leaders.”

Eriku Patrick Keleture, Adjumani Town Clerk, offered a different explanation. He said the allowances are subject to a 40 percent tax deduction, which he described as secondary tax charged by URA. He explained that the deduction occurs at the bank before councilors withdraw the remaining money.

The exchange illustrates why clear communication of administrative decisions matters in public service. A deduction may be lawful, but where the affected person does not understand its basis, it can become a grievance.

Vundru Dominic, NIRA Registration Officer, told the clinic that harmonization of identification details is ongoing.

He said ordinary processing of a National ID can take about three months, while express processing costs Shs 300, 000 at NIRA headquarters in Kampala.

He also said changes to details intended to harmonize National ID information with academic records can take about one month and require approvals involving the courts, URSB and NIRA.

This matters to public servants because identity information increasingly links employment, payroll and access to financial services.

Emmanuel Okware, Deputy RDC, urged aggrieved staff and citizens to use the IGG’s complaint mechanisms.

Meanwhile, the national record suggests complaints can produce financial outcomes. The IGG says it resolved 1,011 Ombudsman cases in FY 2025/2026, with more than Shs 2.35 billion recommended for payment to people whose employment benefits had been denied or delayed.

Adjumani now has an opportunity to demonstrate the same principle locally. The district could track the complaints raised during the clinic, identify the responsible institution, publish progress and report how many have been resolved.

That would make accountability measurable. For Ambayo, Madraa and Opeli, the Ombudsman Clinic was a chance to be heard. But their stories will only have a satisfying ending when the administrative systems they complained about actually respond.

The clinic opened the door for complaints. The real test of accountability is what happens after the door closes.

END.

By Doreen Tasia 

Thirty-seven farmer groups in Itirikwa and Ukusijoni sub-counties in Adjumani District have received a new Holland tractor 75 horse, to support agricultural production and improve access to mechanized farming services.

The tractor was procured under the Eco Food Uganda project, an initiative aimed at promoting sustainable and inclusive Agri-food supply chains while improving food security and livelihoods among smallholder producers, women and people with disabilities.

The Ugx 8.8 billion Eco Food Uganda project is being implemented by Christian Blind Mission International (CBM), CEFORD, NUDIPU, and EAEA with funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, through the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).

During the commissioning of the tractor on October 6th 2026, Kitz Detros, the Interim Country Director Christian Blind Mission, revealed that besides promoting agricultural transformation, the project also encourages equality and inclusion.

“The CBM is committed to improving the lives of persons living with disabilities through this project together with our partners, we are not only bringing here the innovations and transformative value chain but also looking at the person with disability enjoying the rights and access to the services,” Kitz Detros said.

The tractor is expected to ease the burden of manual land preparation, enable farmers to prepare their gardens on time and increase agricultural productivity in the two sub-counties.

Edema Richard, the Principal Assistant Chief Administrative Officer, urged the tractor management committee to ensure its safety.

“First I want to thank CEFORD for the intervention, and to the committee chairperson, I urge you to be serious with the job as far as the asset is concerned, make sure it is protected with the required level so that we see improved livelihood,” he emphasized.

Mawe Robert, the Secretary for Production, reminded the partners of the need for Agro- industrialization.

“Am appealing to the consortium to also see the aspect of Agro industrialization ,I will be very happy if the production here is being processed so that we see economic transformation especially for sunflower and soya ,we can always find a place for such establishments,” Mawe noted.

Emmanuel Okware, the Deputy Resident District Commissioner, pledged support in the implementation of the project.

“We appreciate the people who sat and developed this concept of 2.5 M Euros project which is being implemented in the two sub counties which I think is a big commitment to increasing productivity and income  among youths ,women and persons with disabilities, we shall continue supporting in ensuring the success of the project,” said Okware.

Achen Dorcus, the Chairperson Atidrira Sunflower Farmers Group In Itirikwa Sub County, explained that access to the tractor could help reduce dependence on traditional methods of land preparation, which are often labor-intensive and time-consuming.

“We thank the partners for the support and we pray that the almighty God blessed them with more resources, our remaining challenge now as sunflower growers is the lack of proper storage facility,” she noted.

The members from 37 farmer groups growing sunflower soya beans and maize under the project will access the tractor at a fee of 60,000 shillings.

In West Nile, the project is being implemented by the Community Empowerment for Rural Development (CEFORD) in Adjumani District.

The wider project also covers parts of the Lango sub-region, including: Alito and Okweridot Sub Counties in Kole District, as well as Ayami and Ogur sub-counties in Lira District.

End.

By Bazio Doreen.

At seven months pregnant, Anzoa knows that getting an ultrasound scan is not simply a matter of visiting the nearest health facility.

In this complex account representing the experiences of women in Adjumani, a pregnancy scan can mean finding money for transport, travelling long distances and, sometimes, making the journey to Adjumani General Hospital because the service is not available closer to home.

For an expectant mother, distance can become more than an inconvenience. It can delay information about a pregnancy and, where complications are present, delay decisions about referral and treatment. Adjumani District is now trying to address that gap by moving the technology closer to the women.

The district has received five portable Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) machines to strengthen antenatal care and help health workers detect pregnancy-related complications earlier.

The machines, handed over on October 5^th, 2026, were provided through the Ministry of Health under the Pathfinder International EMPOWER Programme, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom through the British High Commission.

The five machines are worth approximately Shs 100 million, while another Shs 40 million has been invested in training five health workers to operate them.

The solution is straightforward: instead of expecting every pregnant woman to travel to where an ultrasound machine is available, portable equipment allows the service to move closer to communities.

Solving the distance problem.

Adjumani has 43 high-volume health facilities, according to Medical Superintendent of Adjumani General Hospital, Dr Michael Ambaku.

He says the concentration of ultrasound services at the district hospital has placed a burden on women who live far from the facility.

“Currently, mothers have been highly burdened to travel long distances to Adjumani General Hospital,” Ambaku said.

The five beneficiary facilities are: Adjumani General Hospital, Mungula Health Centre IV, Ofua Health Centre, Ukusijoni Health Centre and Ayilo Health Centre III.

The facilities were selected based on the number of mothers they serve. This is important because access to maternal healthcare is not only about whether a service exists. It is also about whether a woman can reach that service in time and at an affordable cost.

Uganda’s 2026 EMPOWER assessment found that facility deliveries have increased from 60% to 86%, but maternal mortality remains at 189 deaths per 100,000 live births. Neonatal mortality stands at 22 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with the global target of 12.

The assessment identified persistent barriers including distance, cost, shortages of trained personnel and gaps in quality of care.

The Adjumani intervention therefore addresses one piece of a much larger puzzle; building on what is already working. The new machines arrive at a time when Adjumani has recorded notable improvements in maternal health.

A district report covering July 2024 to May 2025 recorded 13,577 deliveries, of which 13,575 were safe, with two maternal deaths. Officials attributed the achievement to interventions including Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPACR) and Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR).

Adjumani General Hospital had also been ranked third among more than 63 government general hospitals nationally for low mortality rates. The figures suggest progress, but health officials say the work is not finished.

Adjumani District Health Officer Dr Dominic Drametu says prenatal deaths require more attention. He hopes the new machines will enable the district to conduct outreaches and monitor pregnancies in neighboring facilities.

“It is my hope that with these machines and the trained health workers, we shall embark on health outreaches to be able to monitor fetuses in neighboring health facilities,” Drametu said.

From equipment to a functioning solution. The strongest part of the intervention is that it does not stop at the delivery of equipment. Five health workers are being trained, and specialist mentors from Mengo are providing hands-on mentorship to the trained POCUS users.

This matters because medical equipment can only improve outcomes when health workers know how to use it, the machines remain functional and patients can access the service.

The district will therefore need to track more than the number of scans conducted. It will need to know: How many pregnant women are being scanned at the five facilities? How many high-risk pregnancies are being identified? How quickly are women with complications referred? Are the machines functional throughout the year? Are trained health workers consistently available? And are women in remote and refugee-hosting communities actually benefiting?

These indicators can turn the intervention from a successful equipment handover into a measurable maternal-health solution. A model that could be taken further

Dr. Daniel Kamya, Pathfinder International Regional Coordinator for Northern and Eastern Uganda, said the intervention followed engagements between the British High Commission, Ministry of Health and Adjumani leaders after gaps in antenatal care were identified.

The portable machines are intended to support scanning at health facilities and during referrals, while mentorship will continue after the initial training.

This approach offers a potentially useful model for other underserved districts: identify a specific service gap, take the appropriate technology closer to communities, train the people who will use it and continue mentoring them.

For Adjumani, the next step is making sure the model works beyond the launch day.

The District Chairperson, Ambayo John Anyanzo, has urged health workers to put the equipment to good use, while calling for additional investment in medical equipment.

For women like the composite Anzoa, the measure of success will not be the number of machines delivered or the value of the investment. It will be whether she can walk into a nearby health facility, receive a timely scan, learn whether her pregnancy needs special attention and, if necessary, be referred before a manageable complication becomes a crisis.

That is where the real value of bringing the ultrasound closer will be measured.

END.

Four years after the Parish Development Model was launched, monitoring in Adjumani reveals a complicated picture of money reaching households, but also gaps in training, markets, supervision and loan recovery. Across West Nile and the country, audit findings point to similar questions about whether the revolving fund can become a sustainable engine of household transformation.

By Bazio Doreen.

The day the money arrived was supposed to mark a turning point.

For one beneficiary in Dzaipi Sub County, however, the Shs 1 million came on the same day his father died.

The beneficiary used part of the money to buy a coffin.

It is a small story in a programme involving trillions of shillings, millions of beneficiaries and thousands of parish savings and credit cooperatives. But it captures one of the central tensions surrounding Uganda’s Parish Development Model (PDM): what happens when money intended to transform a household meets the realities of life at household level?

PDM was launched in February 2022 with the stated objective of moving households (up to 39% of the country’s population) from subsistence production into Uganda’s money economy. Under the Parish Revolving Fund, eligible beneficiaries can access loans of up to Shs 1 million at 6 percent interest, with repayment structured over three years, including a two-year grace period. Four years on, the scale is considerable.

By September 2026, the Ministry of Finance said the government had capitalized the Parish Revolving Fund with Shs 4.317 trillion, reaching 3,571,108 beneficiaries through 10, 589 PDM SACCOs. Women account for 53.88 percent of beneficiaries, while men account for 46.12 percent.

But the question is no longer simply how much money has been disbursed. It is what that money has become.

When Shs1 million meets a household’s reality.

In Adjumani, the question has become particularly visible through a monitoring exercise conducted by Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) through Participatory Budget Clubs (PBCs) between April and May 2026.

The findings from the monitoring exercise were disseminated to key stakeholders including district technical staff, beneficiaries, PBC Chairpersons and Sub County leaders during a meeting held on 30^th September 2026 at the District Natural Resources Boardroom.

Peter Apidra, CSBAG Field Officer in Adjumani, told key stakeholders that PDM’s economic empowerment component directly relates to CSBAG’s mandate to collectively influence government and effectively participate in setting national budget priorities.

“PDM has a component of economic empowerment which aligns directly with the CSBAG mandate of budgeting and planning,” Apidra said.

He noted that community monitoring provides an important mechanism for identifying challenges affecting programme beneficiaries and informing improvements in planning and implementation not just at the district level but even at the national level.

CSBAG is a coalition formed in 2004 to bring together CSOs at national and district levels to influence government decisions on resource mobilization and utilization for equitable and sustainable development.

During the monitoring exercise under the “Strengthening Budget Accountability Systems and Practices Project” that started in 2024 and ends in 2027, PBCs interviewed 94 PDM beneficiaries across the district. The findings offer a window into the lives behind the program’s statistics.

Of those interviewed, 50 were women and 44 were men. Thirty-seven were aged between 18 and 35, 48 were between 36 and 60 years, while nine were above 60 years.

Their education levels also varied considerably: 22 had no formal education, 39 had attained Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) level, 27 had reached Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE), three had Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) qualifications and three had degrees.

For many, PDM is therefore not simply a question of accessing credit. It is a programme being implemented among households with different levels of education, financial literacy, business experience and economic resilience. That distinction matters.

A loan may be designed as capital, but a household does not stop having emergencies simply because it has received public financing. A death in the family, food shortages, school requirements, medical needs or a poor harvest can compete with an enterprise for the same money.

According to Aserua Rose, who represented the LC III Chairperson Pachara Sub County, some beneficiaries, bought mattresses with the PDM money.

The problem, she argued, was not necessarily the mattress itself, but the fact that it would not generate income with which the loan could be repaid.

“I have seen some beneficiaries buy mattresses in this money. I wonder if the mattresses can generate any income or interest,” Aserua observed.

The challenge is therefore not only whether beneficiaries receive the money. It is whether the economic environment around them allows a Shs 1 million loan to become a productive asset.

A programme that has grown far beyond Adjumani.

The Adjumani experience sits within a much larger national experiment.

The 2024 National Population and Housing Census found that 832,746 households nationally had benefited from PDM funds, representing 7.8 percent of the country’s households. In West Nile, 62,984 households had benefited, equivalent to 9.8 percent of the region’s 640,901 households.

The census figures also show variation within the region. The Madi area recorded 11.1 percent of households benefiting, while West Nile overall stood at 9.8 percent.

By February 2024, the Ministry of Finance data cited by the Economic Policy Research Centre showed that West Nile had 830 PDM SACCOs and had received about Shs 83 billion in transfers to SACCOs.

By 2025, the figure had grown considerably. Manifesto implementation data presented in February 2026 indicated that 830 PDM SACCOs had been operationalized across West Nile, with Shs 254 billion reportedly reaching 227,890 beneficiaries between 2021 and 2025.

The numbers demonstrate the reach of the programme. But they also raise another question: If hundreds of billions have entered the region, how much has remained in circulation as productive capital?

The repayment clock.

The first PDM loans were disbursed in December 2022, with a 24-month grace period. That grace period expired in December 2024, meaning beneficiaries from the first funding cycle were expected to begin repaying so that the money could revolve to other households.

The national recovery figures have since raised concern. The Auditor General reported that among beneficiaries who received Parish Revolving Fund money by December 2022, only 18,105 beneficiaries in 709 SACCOs across 30 local governments had commenced voluntary recovery, with Shs 9.34 billion recovered. This was against more than Shs 3.26 trillion released to the programme.

The national audit also found that by the end of the 2024/25 financial year, Shs 3.259 trillion had been released to 10,589 SACCOs, while Shs 2.750 trillion had been disbursed to households. In a sample of 115 local governments, Shs 547.7 billion—73 percent of the Parish Revolving Fund received—had been disbursed, leaving about Shs 205 billion undisbursed.

The audit further identified 109 beneficiaries in 86 SACCOs whose projects did not exist, 328 households that had not procured planned items, and 2,336 households in 506 SACCOs that had received the revolving fund more than once. Accounting officers cited delayed or off-season disbursements, climate and market conditions, weak supervision and inadequate beneficiary guidance among the factors affecting implementation. The implications reach beyond individual borrowers.

PDM is structured as a revolving fund. If the first generation of borrowers does not repay, the same capital cannot easily reach the next generation.

That is why repayment is not merely a debt-collection issue. It is central to whether the programme can sustain itself.

Adjumani’s own repayment challenge.

In Adjumani, the CSBAG monitoring exercise found that only 33 of the 94 beneficiaries interviewed had partially repaid their loans. The finding comes alongside another concern: 74 beneficiaries said they had no records for their enterprises.

For a programme based on revolving capital, that creates a difficult chain of accountability. Without records, it becomes harder for a beneficiary to know whether an enterprise is making a profit or a loss. It becomes harder for SACCO leaders to track performance. And it becomes harder for local government officials to establish whether the original investment is still generating value.

Eriku Patrick Keleture, the Town Clerk of Adjumani Town Council, described the recovery situation bluntly, saying only a small percentage of the revolving fund had been recovered.

He also warned that programmes such as PDM need to be taken seriously because local governments may increasingly depend on locally generated revenue and loan repayments in the future.

At the same time, he questioned whether the Shs 100 million allocation per parish is adequate across parishes with different geographical sizes and populations.

For some beneficiaries, the biggest problem is not necessarily unwillingness to work. It is finding someone to buy what they produce.

The CSBAG monitoring found that 27 beneficiaries had no reliable market for their produce or enterprises and depended on middlemen.

Amoko Justin, a Participatory Budget Club member from Dzaipi Sub County, said beneficiaries sometimes ended up consuming their own produce because of limited markets.

His example was simple: sim sim and groundnuts could be produced successfully, but if there is no dependable buyer, the enterprise can quickly stop functioning as a commercial activity.

“When everyone in the village has sim sim or gnuts, it is hard to sell. You will end up eating what you have harvested,” Amoko explained.

This is where the PDM story intersects with Uganda’s wider agricultural economy. The government’s own current description of the programme increasingly emphasizes productivity, value addition and market access rather than simply disbursing money.

The challenge is that a household cannot create a market simply because it has received a loan. If many beneficiaries are producing the same commodity at the same time, prices can fall. If roads are poor or buyers are distant, transport costs can consume profits. If production is seasonal, income may not arrive when loan repayment is due. And if the money arrives late, the enterprise may miss the production window altogether. These are not purely questions of individual behavior. They are questions about the ecosystem surrounding household enterprise.

A business without a notebook.

The monitoring exercise found that 43 beneficiaries had never received training. Another 64 said they had never been visited by Parish Chiefs, PDM SACCO leaders or Agricultural Extension Officers. That means a significant number of beneficiaries were attempting to run publicly financed enterprises with limited formal support.

Amoko said most beneficiaries were being extorted because of ignorance and limited sensitization. He also argued that many beneficiaries were illiterate and therefore needed continuous training and monitoring.

The national Auditor General’s findings point to a similar problem. The 2025 audit cited limited guidance and capacity for beneficiaries, inadequate sensitization on approved business plans, weak supervision and monitoring, and problems with the PDM Information System as factors affecting implementation.

Earlier national audits had also raised concerns about the program’s institutional systems. The 2024 Auditor General’s report found that household-level PDM data collection had reached 79.93 percent, while population registration stood at 46.30 percent at the time of the review. It also found that 2,985 SACCOs in 127 local governments did not have registered offices on their documents, while 567 SACCOs in 41 local governments had registered offices that did not exist.

These findings matter because a revolving fund depends on more than money. It depends on records; on people knowing the rules; on institutions knowing where the money went and; on someone following up when an enterprise begins to fail.

As Aserua observes, many groups were formed specifically for PDM rather than growing from existing economic relationships.

“Most groups were formed for the purpose of the project. They were not existing groups,” she said.

The distinction may appear technical, but it has practical consequences.

A group formed simply because a government programme requires one may not necessarily have the trust, history, business model or internal systems of an established enterprise group.

The national programme has also struggled with targeting and profiling. The Auditor General previously found that PDM lacked a comprehensive database of all subsistence households and that registration and profiling had faced challenges in identifying eligible beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, the government has continued to invest in digital systems intended to improve targeting and accountability.

The Ministry of Finance says the PDM Information System is used to register eligible beneficiaries, while IFMIS tracks transfers and Wendi facilitates direct disbursement to beneficiaries’ mobile phones. Government says it has recruited 14,133 Wendi agents and distributed 27,100 tablets for registration and monitoring.

The Office of the Prime Minister also announced in May 2026 the rollout of interactive PDM dashboards to districts, designed to provide real-time visibility into SACCO disbursements and beneficiary uptake.

The question for places like Adjumani is whether these systems will eventually translate into stronger follow-up at household level. The money that allegedly disappears before reaching the enterprise

The CSBAG monitoring uncovered another sensitive issue.

Sixty-four of the 94 respondents said they had paid between Shs 50,000 and Shs 150,000 for services before receiving the money or being selected.

However, Dr Mamawi Godfrey, the PDM Focal Person, says extortion is criminal but noted that beneficiaries often fail to provide evidence. He said leaders in Pakele and Itirikwa had previously been prosecuted for extortion and illegal payments. The allegations are particularly significant because national audits have identified similar risks.

The Auditor General’s 2024 assessment documented cases nationally involving alleged kickbacks, diversion and irregular handling of PDM funds. An earlier audit also found that about Shs 30 billion had been sent to 3,214 unregistered or “ghost” SACCOs, contrary to programme guidelines.

The lesson is not that every PDM beneficiary or official is involved in wrongdoing. Rather, the recurring allegations demonstrate why strong systems for reporting, verification and evidence are necessary.

In Adjumani, Dr Mamawi said beneficiaries should report cases where people use the identities of deceased persons to access funds.

He also clarified that the Shs 500,000 provided for SACCO operations is public money intended for operations and not personal money for Parish Chiefs or SACCO board Chairpersons.

The refugee question.

Another issue raised during the Adjumani meeting was the alleged participation of refugees in the programme.

Emmanuel Atabuga, a beneficiary, said some refugees had received PDM money.

The claim requires verification against beneficiary registers before being presented as an established fact. It nevertheless raises a wider question about how targeting works in communities such as Adjumani, where host and refugee populations live alongside each other and where household economic vulnerability does not always fit neatly within administrative boundaries.

Four years of implementation in Adjumani.

The district formed 767 enterprise groups involving 15, 340 members across 210 villages and selected 12 enterprises for implementation; but this started with its own challenges.

During the first phase, 11 parishes reportedly missed an early PDM disbursement because of late submission of forms. At the time, the district had transferred about Shs 2.1 billion to 45 parish accounts, while the district expected total FY2022/23 PDM transfers of about Shs 6.3 billion.

By June 2023, the district reported that more than Shs 2.2 billion had been disbursed to beneficiaries’ accounts, while another Shs 3.3 billion had been received and deposited in SACCO accounts.

An earlier Auditor General’s audit recorded that Adjumani had an approved PDM budget of Shs 973.8 million for FY2021/22, including Shs 669 million for the revolving fund. The audit also raised concerns about funds being channeled through the district account instead of directly to beneficiary SACCO accounts, contrary to the programme guidelines.

These early implementation questions are important because the challenges being reported in 2026 did not emerge overnight.

They form part of a longer story about how a national programme has been translated from policy into parish-level institutions and eventually into household enterprises.

The temptation to blame the household

At the dissemination meeting, Dr Mamawi argued that some beneficiaries were affected by what he described as laziness, alcoholism and a failure to change their mindset.

“Improving your family begins with changing your mindset,” he said.

There is certainly a behavioral dimension to any enterprise. A loan cannot generate income if it is not invested productively. But the monitoring findings suggest that the explanation cannot stop there. A beneficiary without training faces a different challenge from one with business experience. A farmer without a market faces a different challenge from one with a guaranteed buyer. A borrower who receives money late faces a different production cycle from one who receives it before planting. And a household facing a death or other emergency may make decisions that look economically irrational from a balance sheet but are understandable within the circumstances of the family.

The national Auditor General has similarly identified delayed disbursement, climate and market conditions, weak supervision and limited guidance as factors affecting PDM performance. The real challenge, therefore, may be to understand where individual responsibility ends and programme design begins.

What does success actually look like?

The government says PDM has reached millions of households and has mobilized billions of shillings into parish-level enterprises. The scale is undeniable. But the program’s own structure creates a different measure of success.

The money is supposed to revolve. One household borrows, invests, generates income and repays. The same money then moves to another household. Success therefore cannot be measured only by the number of people who have received money. It must also be measured by the number of enterprises that survive, the income they generate, the loans recovered, the capital that revolves and the households that move into sustainable economic activity. This is particularly important as PDM enters what has been described as a sustainability and exit phase.

At national level, the government is now looking at how the programme can become a more sustainable financial ecosystem. The Ministry of Finance says the focus is increasingly on household enterprises and the transition from subsistence production to the money economy. That transition will be tested at places like Dzaipi, Pachara, Pakele and Itirikwa—not in national reports alone.

What happens next?

In Adjumani, district officials say joint monitoring visits are planned for October 2026. Accounts that had been frozen because of delayed accountability have reportedly been reopened. The district is also calling for greater public reporting of fraud, extortion and irregular beneficiary practices.

For the beneficiaries, however, monitoring must mean more than checking whether money was received. It must mean asking whether the enterprise exists; whether the beneficiary was trained; whether the business has a market; whether records are being kept; whether the money was received in full; whether repayments are being made; and most importantly, whether the household is actually better off.

The monitoring exercise found that 64 of the 94 beneficiaries had never been visited by key PDM actors, 43 had never received training, 27 had no reliable market, 74 had no enterprise records and only 33 had partially repaid their loans.

Those numbers should not be read simply as evidence of failure. They are also a map of where intervention may be needed: training can be strengthened; extension support can be improved; markets can be mapped before enterprises are funded; record-keeping can be simplified for beneficiaries with limited literacy; monitoring can become more regular and allegations of extortion can be investigated through evidence rather than left as rumours.

At the national level, the government has already begun strengthening digital tracking, SACCO monitoring and beneficiary registration. The challenge now is connecting those systems to the human beings at the end of the chain because PDM ultimately does not live in a spreadsheet. It lives in the households that buy a goat, plant sim sim, open a small shop, raise poultry, start a produce business or, sometimes, face an emergency that changes everything.

Four years after the programme began, Uganda has moved from asking whether PDM money can reach households to a harder question: Can that money stay productive long enough to change them?

For Adjumani, the answer is still being written and the next chapter may depend less on how much money is disbursed but rather on whether the people who receive it are given the knowledge, markets, oversight and economic space needed to turn a loan into a livelihood.

END.

By Bazio Doreen.

Adjumani District Local Government is looking ahead to the implementation of the Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project Phase II (DRDIP II), with expectations that the new phase will deepen investments in social services, livelihoods, infrastructure and community resilience in one of Uganda’s long-standing refugee-hosting districts.

DRDIP II comes as Uganda scales up its development response to the pressures and opportunities associated with hosting refugees. Backed by US$328 million in World Bank financing, the second phase is expected to benefit approximately 3 million people, including 1 million refugees, create at least 60,000 new or improved jobs and generate an estimated 6.1 million workdays through public works.

For Adjumani, the programme comes against a backdrop of significant development needs linked to both its resident population and the long-term presence of refugees.

According to UNHCR data, Adjumani’s host population was estimated at 300,590 people as of March 2025. The district is among the refugee-hosting areas in Uganda where public infrastructure, livelihoods and basic services have had to respond to the needs of both refugee and host communities.

Building on the first phase.

DRDIP II is expected to build on lessons and investments from the first phase of the programme, which supported refugee-hosting districts through investments in social and economic infrastructure, livelihoods, environmental management and local government capacity.

Adjumani was among the districts covered by the first DRDIP programme.

Some of the investments recorded in Adjumani included the rehabilitation of Pagirinya Road at Shs1.27 billion, construction of an Intensive Care Unit at Adjumani Hospital at Shs1.8 billion, construction of dormitories at Dzaipi Secondary School and Mungula Secondary School at Shs750 million each, and classroom construction at Rende Primary School at Shs515.5 million. An Ofua community food store also received Shs230 million under the programme.

These investments illustrate the scale at which DRDIP has previously supported infrastructure intended to benefit communities affected by displacement.

The first phase also recorded substantial results nationally. World Bank project reporting shows that more than 3 million Ugandans gained access to improved social infrastructure, environmental services and livelihood opportunities, while the project created jobs for more than 174,660 people, including 27,380 refugees.

A larger focus on livelihoods and jobs.

While infrastructure remains important, DRDIP II places increased emphasis on economic opportunities.

The World Bank says the second phase will expand support for livelihoods, local enterprises and public works alongside investments in education, health, water and other basic services. At least 60,000 jobs are expected to be created or improved through the project.

For communities in Adjumani, where agriculture, small businesses and informal economic activities provide livelihoods for many households, the emphasis on economic opportunities could complement investments in physical infrastructure.

The programme is also designed to support both refugees and host communities, reflecting Uganda’s approach of integrating refugees into national and local development systems.

Why DRDIP II matters to Adjumani.

The need for sustained investment is linked not only to the presence of refugees but also to the broader development pressures facing refugee-hosting districts.

The World Bank notes that refugee-hosting communities in Uganda continue to face significant development deficits, particularly in rural areas where basic service provision and economic opportunities remain constrained.

This makes the transition from humanitarian support to longer-term development particularly important for districts such as Adjumani.

DRDIP II is designed to improve access to basic social and economic services, expand livelihood opportunities and strengthen environmental management for both refugee and host communities.

For Adjumani District Local Government, this creates an opportunity to align project investments with priorities already identified through district development planning.

Communities expected to remain at the centre.

A key feature of DRDIP is its community-driven approach, with local communities involved in identifying and prioritising investments.

As anticipation builds around DRDIP II, effective community participation will be important in ensuring that projects respond to actual needs and that beneficiaries take ownership of the investments.

The district will also need strong coordination among its technical departments, communities, refugee representatives, Office of the Prime Minister, implementing partners and other stakeholders to ensure that investments are properly planned, implemented and maintained.

The first phase demonstrated the importance of local government capacity in managing such investments. World Bank project records show that 100 percent of infrastructure investments assessed under the project’s results framework had local government recurrent budget allocations or operation and maintenance plans at the reporting point.

From infrastructure to resilience.

DRDIP II is therefore being positioned not simply as another infrastructure programme, but as part of Uganda’s longer-term response to displacement.

The World Bank describes the second phase as an opportunity to scale investments in infrastructure, public services, environmental management and economic opportunity, while strengthening the relationship between refugees and host communities.

For Adjumani, the anticipation comes with an opportunity to build on what has already been achieved while addressing gaps that remain in roads, education, health, livelihoods, water and community economic development.

As preparations for DRDIP II progress, the district’s priority will be to ensure that communities are adequately engaged, identified needs are clearly documented and investments are aligned with Adjumani’s development priorities.

The anticipated programme represents another opportunity for Adjumani to turn the pressures associated with hosting refugees into investments that strengthen services, livelihoods, infrastructure and resilience for both refugee and host communities.

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By Bazio Doreen

Adjumani District Leadership is strengthening its response to rabies following the death of 10 people between January and August 2026, as health and veterinary authorities push for stronger prevention, surveillance and access to treatment.

The figures were presented during an Adjumani District Task Force meeting held on Thursday 24th September 2026 at the Office of the Resident District Commissioner.

The meeting was attended by district local government officials, Ministry of Health representatives, veterinary authorities and other key stakeholders to review the district’s animal-bite situation and agree on measures to prevent further deaths.

According to data presented at the meeting, 655 animal-bite cases were recorded in Adjumani between January and August, with children aged five to 11 years accounting for about 80 percent of the victims.

District records further show 453 reported dog-bite cases and 213 rabies cases, with 10 deaths recorded during the period.

The situation places Adjumani’s response within Uganda’s wider effort to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies by 2030. The National Rabies Elimination Strategy identifies mass vaccination of dogs, timely and affordable post-exposure prophylaxis, stronger surveillance, control of dog populations and improved laboratory systems as key interventions.

Globally, rabies causes an estimated 59,000 deaths each year, with more than 95 percent occurring in Africa and Asia. Children under 15 are among the most vulnerable because of their close interaction with dogs. Uganda’s national strategy notes that approximately 99 percent of human rabies cases originate from rabid dog bites, making vaccination of dogs a critical prevention measure.

Closing the vaccination gap.

Adjumani has an estimated 45,272 dogs, of which 31,696 have been vaccinated, representing about 70 percent coverage. Approximately 13,576 dogs remain unvaccinated.

District veterinary authorities want coverage increased to at least 80 percent, alongside stronger control of stray and free-roaming dogs.

Dr Okello, the District Veterinary Officer, reported that the district had received 3,000 doses of dog vaccine, while private providers had vaccinated approximately 900 dogs.

He said food insecurity can contribute to dogs roaming in search of food, increasing their contact with communities.

“How do you feed a dog when you don’t have enough yourself? The dogs roam to find what to eat.”
He added that rabies, once largely associated with wildlife, is increasingly a concern among domestic dogs.

Children at particular risk.

The high proportion of children among animal-bite victims was one of the major concerns raised during the meeting.

Dr Kalanda Rogers, a Ministry of Health Field Epidemiologist, said children aged five to 11 accounted for approximately 80 percent of animal-bite victims recorded during the eight-month period.

Many victims sought care at Adjumani Hospital and Elema Health Centre II, but officials noted that some bites are never reported.

Some victims delay seeking care until wounds have healed, while others underestimate the risk because the injury appears minor. Bites involving stray dogs are also less likely to be reported where there is no identifiable owner.

Beyond the bite: risks from other animals.

Dr Ijjo Didimous, Veterinary Officer for Dzaipi Sub-county, cautioned that rabies surveillance should not focus exclusively on dogs. He said infection can also affect goats, sheep and cattle, raising concern about communities consuming animals that die unexpectedly.

He urged communities to report unusual animal behaviour and unexplained animal deaths to veterinary authorities rather than consuming the meat.

The district is consequently looking to strengthen surveillance of both domestic and wild animals as part of a broader One Health response.

Task Force agrees on coordinated action.

The District Task Force agreed that closing the vaccination gap and improving early detection must be accompanied by stronger community systems. The district will therefore prioritise raising dog vaccination coverage to at least 80 percent, while strengthening reporting and tracking of animal bites through health facilities, veterinary teams and community leadership. LC1 leaders will be engaged more closely in identifying and reporting bite incidents and stray animals, while schools will become an important platform for prevention, with head teachers across Adjumani’s 213 schools targeted for sensitisation because of the high proportion of children among victims.

The meeting also prioritised improving access to post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and following up victims to ensure they complete their treatment. The Ministry of Health has provided 1,200 doses of anti-rabies vaccine, according to Lulu Henry Leku, Assistant District Health Officer for Maternal and Child Health. However, stakeholders noted that access remains a challenge, with private facilities charging about Shs30,000 for vaccination. Communities will also be sensitised on immediate first aid following a bite and the need to seek medical attention without delay. The district further identified inadequate information, education and communication materials and limited resources for active case searches as gaps that need to be addressed.

The resolutions are consistent with Uganda’s national rabies strategy, which calls for mass dog vaccination, community awareness, timely access to PEP, strengthened surveillance and response, dog-population control and improved laboratory systems as part of the country’s goal of eliminating dog-mediated human rabies by 2030.

A district-wide public health responsibility.

The meeting underscored that rabies prevention cannot be left to the veterinary or health departments alone. The district’s response will require coordinated action involving health workers, veterinary officers, schools, local leaders, dog owners and communities.

For Adjumani, the immediate challenge is to translate the Task Force resolutions into sustained action—particularly closing the gap of more than 13,500 unvaccinated dogs, improving reporting of bites and ensuring that victims can access PEP quickly.

With 10 people already dead between January and August 2026, the district is treating rabies not simply as an animal-health problem, but as a preventable public-health threat requiring coordinated action across the community.

END