Police in Kole District have arrested two residents accused of embezzling Shs50 million intended for beneficiaries of the government's flagship Parish Development Model (PDM) initiative.
The suspects, Martine Olila and Denis Omodi, both of Okwor Village in Ayer Sub-county, were apprehended on Thursday after allegedly colluding with other accomplices still at large to illegally withdraw funds from a PDM account at a local bank on June 2, 2025.
According to SP Patrick Jimmy Okema, the North Kyoga regional police spokesperson, preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects tampered with official PDM records, replacing legitimate beneficiaries with fake names.
The theft was uncovered after community members began receiving mobile alerts about disbursements they never actually received.
“No beneficiary actually received the money. Our investigations revealed that the suspects manipulated the system by introducing new names into the list of approved beneficiaries, replacing the original ones,” said SP Okema.
During the arrest, detectives recovered Shs21 million in cash from Olila, one of the suspects. Okema said efforts are ongoing to trace the remaining suspects and ensure full recovery of the stolen funds.
“A case file is being compiled for submission to the Resident State Attorney. As police, we are committed to taking action against individuals sabotaging government programs and pledge to leave no stone unturned,” he added.
This latest incident adds to a growing list of corruption cases linked to the PDM’s rollout in Lango sub-region.
In 2023, Oyam District officials, including six parish chiefs and a sub-county chief, were arrested for demanding illegal registration fees and mismanaging PDM funds.
In Lira District, several whistleblowers accused local leaders of taking bribes before enrolling people for funding, while in Dokolo, a 2024 audit exposed widespread discrepancies in allocations, including inflated SACCO membership numbers used to access more funds.
Civil society groups have repeatedly cautioned that without strict monitoring, the PDM — launched in 2022 to lift 39% of Ugandans out of the subsistence economy — risks being undermined by greed, manipulation, and poor accountability.