By Richard Onapatum
KATAKWI
A mind boggling scenario is unfolding in Katakwi district with I5 ghost villages created in 2018 without inhabitants giving implementers of Parish Development Model (PDM) untold headache.
This was confirmed by this reporter after landing onto a letter written by the Okore Sub county chief, Malinga Moses on the 19th July, 2023 addressed to Katakwi Chief Administrative Officer.
The letter reads, “This is to inform you that Okore Sub county has some of the parishes and villages that were gazzeted by electoral commission for political purposes and don’t have any inhabitants in them. Okore parish has five villages; Okore, Abobore, Atukol, Oitakol and Nakat.
Aminit parish has five villages; Aminit, Omamtum, Apapaipi, Olet and Omara, Orimon village, Okabale village, Ochos village, Atikokin village and Atelan village.
“We have however failed to implement PDM activities in the above named parishes because residents were forced to take refugee elsewhere in the nearby parishes. Yet the PDM guidelines provide that the beneficiaries must be full residents of the parish,” the letter adds.
“Therefore I request your office to guide in this scenario,” the letter concludes.
John Patrick Nuwabigaba, the then Katakwi CAO wrote to the permanent secretary Ministry of Local Government to seek for guidance on how they could administer the fifteen ghost villages of Okore that have no human beings but are supposed to get PDM funds.
The Permanent Secretary, Ben Kumumanya constituted a committee in the ministry headed by himself which went on ground to verify and scrutinize the allegation if there were villages without human beings.
Their conclusion was that, “There were no signs of people having lived in those areas; they are therefore contemplating what to do to the area.”
Geoffrey Omolo, the Katakwi LC5 in a recent interview said they have written a report to the local government to confirm existence of these Parishes in order to fix this problem.
The report from the electoral commission indicates that Okore Sub County has a total of 8 polling stations with the alleged ghost parishes inclusive.
Is it right for individuals to double benefit? No.
Those who want to double benefit should give chance to other individuals within those parishes to benefit so that those individuals there can also get out of poverty.
It should be noted that Individuals living in other parishes register in the ghost parishes causing double benefits.
These villages were not the old villages, these villages and parishes were created in 2018 under an Omnibus at a time when other administrative units were being created and somehow there was no time for councillors to scrutinize whether these villages existed.
Politicians want to cover the truth, they are basically telling everyone in Okore that they are not going to get PDM because of these villages but that’s not the case.
The politicians are deliberately trying to mislead the people by telling propaganda that the vice president and other politicians are the ones who do not want them to get PDM.
The former aspirant for Ngariam County, Augustine Otuko is among the few elements uncomfortable with the parishes saying they were created by Minister Peter Ogwang and former LCV Hon. Walter Elakas to rig the general election of 2021.
“The truth is these villages were created in 2018 with the intention of rigging NRM primary Elections,” says Otuko.
According to the tally sheet of the last election, MP Minister Peter Ogwang garnered 8900 votes in only 33 villages that are partly in Ngariam and Okore.
