Lira, Uganda | Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) in the Lango Subregion have declared an unconventional “guerrilla war” against corruption to safeguard the achievements of the NRM government, particularly through the Parish Development Model (PDM) following reports of systemic extortion and fund mismanagement that threaten to derail the government’s flagship poverty alleviation program.
Speaking in a telephone interview on Saturday, April 11, 2026, the RDC of Dokolo District, Babra Akech, revealed that her office has shifted to covert operations to catch corrupt officials off-guard.
“My office is currently using intelligence underground to trap those implicated in the same development,” Akech stated. “We do this lest those involved become aware and run away before facing the law.”
Akech noted that Dokolo District has received approximately 25.4 billion UGX to date, which has been disbursed to about 24,000 households meanwhile expressing her dismay over “suffocating” extortion cases where SACCO leaders allegedly demand between 64,000 UGX and 100,000 UGX from locals just to be included on beneficiary lists.
According to her, investigations have already led to arrests in Dokolo Town Council’s Southern Ward, where some leaders were found to have fraudulently listed their own relatives as beneficiaries including mothers, fathers and children yet the guideline said 1,000,0000 Shs per household.
In Otuke District, Assistant RDC Isaac Opio Opeo described the PDM as a vital tool for a region still recovering from the scars of past insurgencies and cattle rustling by Karimojong warriors.
While Opeo appreciated the government’s initiative, he condemned “unscrupulous” leaders for preying on unsuspecting locals. He revealed that the district security team recently arrested five SACCO leaders who have since pleaded guilty in court. The suspects are now expected to refund the extorted money back to the SACCO pool.
The Parish Development Model was launched by President Yoweri Museveni on February 26, 2022, as a “last-mile” strategy to move 3.5 million households out of subsistence farming and into the money economy.However, RDC Akech and ARDC Opio Opeo’s stance is a warning and a call for collaboration to rescue the now “promising” government program that remains entangled in a web of local corruption. Which undermines the national developmental agenda and must not be tolerated as they fight to protect the gains of the Ugandan people.
