By Doreen Musingo

JINJA - The Inspector General of Government (IGG), Irene Mulyagonja, has ordered Jinja municipal council to stop local councilors from collecting revenue at the Source of River Nile.

The deputy town clerk, Jofram Waidhuba, explained that the IGG, in a recent report addressed to the town clerk, David Kyasanku, said it was wrong for councillors to collect revenue on behalf of the municipal council.

He added that the IGG intervened following a complaint filed to the inspectorate in 2008.

The Source of River Nile is a major tourist site and revenue earner for Jinja town.

Waidhuba said he had already written termination letters to the councillors who have been collecting the revenue.

Waidhuba, who said poor revenue was collected on the two occasions when the site was privatised, said the municipal leaders were still wondering whether to privatise it again or manage it themselves.

However, a section of councillors at Jinja central division, that had mandated councillors to manage gate collections at the Source of the Nile, were not satisfied with the directive.

Ayub Kezaala (Central west parish) noted that the council should appreciate the assessment of the division chairperson, Mubarak Kirunda, who initiated the move.

Kezaala noted that whereas an average of sh5m was collected every month from the tourist site, the revenue rose to sh50m monthly when councillors took over its management.

Muhammed Zein (Magwa parish) said as politicians, they know the value of the site and had set a precedent of how much money should be collected.