BUTALEGJA: Butaleja district chairmen of the parish development model have been given bicycles and motorcycles to help them get the model going in their area.
The programme was launched in Kibuku district in Bukedi sub region by President Museveni on Saturday last week and 29 SACCOs, including some from Butaleja district, were given money.
It was the Butaleja Resident District Commissioner, Apollo Bwebale, who handed over the bikes and motorcycles that had been donated by the government.
Over 500 bicycles were given to all the LCI and II chairpersons who make up Butaleja, and 15 motorcycles have been given to the LCIII Chairpersons.
The RDC Apollo Bwebale warned the local leaders not to misuse the bicycles and motorcycles he gave them, saying that they should use them to get their communities excited about the parish development model.
Bwebale said that the government has given motorcycles and bicycles to the leaders in order to enhance mobilisation and reach out to the people to ensure they embrace government programs, noting that since the government has enhanced their facilitation, their output should be much higher than before.
The LCI chairpersons who received the bicycles welcomed the move by the government to give them facilities, but said that these were not enough, arguing that the government needs to do more to facilitate them since they are the ones who interact with the communities more than any other leader.
The LCI chairperson of Lubangwe village in Busaba sub county and Mubazo Elibabeli, the chairperson of the LCI of Nasaalo village in Kachonga sub county, said the 10,000 shillings that the government gives them is very little and cannot even feed someone for a single meal.
They said that when any government programme is rolled out to the villages, it is the LCI chairpersons who are contacted, but when it comes to facilitation, they are given the least amount of money.
Local leaders are at the forefront of ensuring that the parish development model succeeds.
The PDM is an approach to development as envisaged under the National Development Plan III, with the parish as the lowest administrative and operational hub for delivering services closer to the people and hence fostering local economic development. There are 10,594 parishes in the country.
Under the initiative, each parish is supposed to get 17 million shillings in the current financial year to start the implementation of the programme, and according to the plan, the parishes will each receive 100 million shillings with effect from the next financial year.
