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The Parish Development Model Has a Records Problem, Not Only a Money Problem

Households can name the amount. Fewer can name who approved the list, and that is where the audits keep landing.

By Julius ByaruhangaWestern and Central Uganda6 min read
A smallholder family standing on their plot in rural western Uganda beside a maize garden
Western and Central Uganda. 6 July 2026.
AccountabilityGovernance

Ask a parish about the enterprise fund and the answer arrives in figures. Ask who sat on the selection committee and the answer slows down.

Selection is the fault line

Where beneficiary lists were read aloud at a public meeting, disputes are rare. Where they were compiled privately, the same complaints recur: relatives of committee members, absent names, and recipients who never attended a single session.

The money can be correct and the list can still be wrong. People remember the list.
Sub-county chief, western Uganda

Repayment rates track the same divide, which suggests that transparency at selection is not a compliance nicety but the mechanism that makes the fund revolve at all.

Sources & further reading
  1. Ministry of Local Government - Government of Uganda
  2. Office of the Auditor General - OAG Uganda
  3. Daily Monitor - Nation Media Group
Julius Byaruhanga
Governance Correspondent, Kampala

Julius Byaruhanga follows local government finance, public programme delivery and audit findings at district and parish level.

  • Local government finance
  • Public programmes
  • Audit and accountability
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