Gulu city is struggling to operate after Parliament cut its local revenue budget from sh3.8b to sh491m.

Gulu city mayor Alfred Okwonga said his council approved the sh3.8b projected locally-raised revenue for the current financial year, but that Parliament only appropriated sh491m.

“This reduction has caused a huge deficit. There is need for us to prepare a sh3b supplementary budget,” Okwonga said.

He added that sh491m is too little to enable the city to operate in the first quarter.

He added that they need money for various services, such as garbage collection, road maintenance, equipment repair, among others.

Some of the uncollected garbage at Gulu Main Market

However, Okwonga said the city was requested to send its supplementary budget on condition that it can raise sufficient local revenue.

However, Gulu city chief finance officer George Nicholas Kidega said they were experiencing a drop in revenue collection partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has frozen most government services and businesses because of frequent lockdowns.

“We (Gulu city) spend 20% of the local revenue on paying allowances of councillors. This cuts heavily into our local revenue,” Kidega said.

David Onencan, the mayor of Bardege-Layibi division South, said technocrats should revise the use of E-tax because it impacts on local revenue collection.

Gulu city budget

In the financial year 2021/2022, Gulu city approved a sh46.8b budget, with education taking the largest share of sh12b.

Administration was allocated sh3.2b, health sh2.1b, roads and engineering sh2.5b, natural resources sh333m and community-based services sh410m.

Others were planning (sh380m), internal audit (sh106m), trade, industry and local development (sh82m), statutory bodies (330m), production and marketing (sh732m).

Kidega disclosed that Government transfers to Gulu city were projected at sh46b (99%) of the total revenue.

He said most of the funding was expected to come from developmental partners, such as KFW for water and sanitation, ENABEL and United Nations Capital Development Funds.

Kidega revealed that discretionary government transfers to Gulu city were sh2.7b.

Out of this, the city divisions’ discretionary development equalisation grant would receive sh370m.

“Laroo-Pece division would receive sh185m and Bar-dege-Layibi division would get 189m,” Kidega said.

He said the urban unconditional grant (non-wage) meant for the city divisions is sh180m, with LarooPece division receiving sh91m, while Bar-dege-Layibi division would get sh89m.

USMID funds

Okwonga said the Government has added sh13b for construction of roads under the Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) programme, funded by the World Bank.

He said at the close of last financial year, USMID funds worth sh37.5b remained unspent and out of this, sh7.2m meant for capacity building activities has been returned to the treasury.

“The USMID secretariat, under the lands ministry, is planning to submit funds worth sh37.5b to Parliament for appropriation,” Okwonga said.

He added that the USMID fund (unspent balance) is meant for the upgrade of 7.88km roads to class II standard paved roads with an asphalt concrete.

He named the roads as Vincent Opio and Oola Lubara roads (2.540km), Pope John Paul Road (1.540km), Nelson Mandela Road (1.680km), Onono Road (1.014km), Lakana Odongkara Road (0.585km) and Francis Barabanawe road (0.431km).

Local revenue sources

Kidega said this financial year, they expect to raise sh738.7m from licences, sh156.8m from street parking and sh504.6m from markets.

He said revenue from street parking was still low because many roads in the city are not marked.

Kidega also said the council had started construction of market stalls at Kabedo-Opong Market in Bardege-Layibi division.

Plans

Kidega said they are focusing on accelerating development in the city by expanding the revenue base and promoting investment through the department of trade and industry using the parish model.

“In the next four years, we project to collect sh10b because Gulu city boundaries have expanded. We are taking on fresh property valuation, which has become the biggest source of revenue,” he said.

Garbage challenges

Gulu city mayor Alfred Okwonga said garbage management has become a challenge because of the regular breakdown of the only garbage truck in the city and the high costs of repairing it.

He said this has affected garbage collection and disposal, leading to piles of uncollected garbage around Gulu Main Market, Cerelendu and Wi-lobo markets in Laroo-pece division, Kasubi Market in Bar-dege-Layibi division, among others.

Okwonga noted that Gulu city generates an average of 120 tonnes of garbage daily, but they can only collect a quarter of that.

Okwonga said KFW, a German Organisation, has donated plastic containers, metallic skips, a wheel loader and a bulldozer for collecting garbage.

Patrick Oola Lumumba, the mayor of Bar-dege–Layibi division, is optimistic that the new equipment will ease garbage collection in the division.

“We have one tractor that is being shared between the two divisions. This makes garbage collection complicated. KFW has promised to give us a garbage truck, we hope this will make our work easier.”

Oola said while making tax assessment next year, they will demand that all shops have garbage skips to avoid littering the city.