Census tablets to be given to parish chiefs for PDM

The Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Chris Baryomunsi has revealed that the gadgets being used in the ongoing census are to be given to parish chiefs at the end of the exercise, to aid Parish Development Model (PDM) work.

Baryomunsi, made the revelation on Tuesday as his ministry handed over computer laptops to local government authorities through the Ministry of Local Government.

Addressing the media, Baryomunsi said all census enumeration tablets will be collected at the end of the exercise and later distributed to parish chiefs to aid them in managing and analysing data regarding the Parish Development Model.

“The computers which are being used for the census enumeration, once the exercise is over, then these computers will now be given to the parish chiefs for them to make sure that all the data, all the information regarding PDM is put into the system and then can be analyzed,” Baryomunsi said.

At the handover event, 163 laptops were handed over to the Ministry of Local Government. The gadgets are to be distributed countrywide to facilitate Chief Administrative Officers and Town Clerks to monitor the implementation of PDM.

“The importance of this is that we can track how much money is going into the parishioner, who are the beneficiaries of this money, what are they investing the money into, and what is the impact of what we are giving the beneficiaries, the sub-counties, the parishion, because it is important that you invest in resources but also be able to monitor and track how the resources are being used, and who is using the resources,” Baryomunsi said.

On his part, the Minister for Local Government Raphael Magyezi said about 6,000 parish chiefs will receive these gadgets.

“There are only 6,000 parish chiefs and after the census, those gadgets will be given to them to help in their work," Magyezi said.

According to the permanent secretary, the Ministry of ICT, Dr Aminah Zawedde, the beneficiaries of PDM money so far are 874,790.

“The Ministry of ICT and National Guidance continues to support PDMIS, which currently boasts 1,739,590 users, to uplift 39% of Uganda’s projected population living in subsistence economies to an inclusive money economy,” Zawedde said.