Man beats wife to near death over PDM money

The Bulambuli Resident District Commissioner, Stanley Bayola, said Wetaka’s wife received sh1m under the PDM programme, which she was supposed to use to buy a heifer cow.

It is alleged that Wetaka said his wife did not get permission from him to apply for the money as the head of the household.

Bayola revealed that the suspect (Wetaka), upon returning from the bar at night, pounced on his wife and beat her up for not giving him some money and not getting his approval to apply for the money.

The RDC said the woman is currently fighting for her life at Mbale's main referral hospital as police continue hunting for Wetaka.

Police in Bulambuli said they have since started a hunt for Wetaka, who is believed to be on the run.

The PDM is Government of Uganda’s latest poverty alleviation programme aimed at uplifting people living below the poverty line.

The programme, according to the government, will distribute at least sh100m to savings and credit cooperatives (saccos) formed in different parishes across the country for people to access cheap credit.

The Government hopes that the money received will be used by those living below the poverty line to invest in areas recommended to them, such as animal rearing, coffee farming, and food crop growing, among others.

The World Bank considers people living on less than $1.9 a day to be below the poverty line.

According to the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development’s 2021 Poverty Status Report, 8.31 million people were considered to be poor in the financial year ending 2019/20.