Soroti district budget shrinks to sh35b

SOROTI - The Soroti district secretary for finance, planning, administration, and investments, Samuel Eyangu, has presented a budget of sh35b to the council chaired by deputy speaker Joshua Okello.

The financial year 2025/2026 budget, presented on Thursday, March 20, 2025, indicated a decline from the previous financial year’s budget, which was sh36b.

“We were faced with the challenge of realising the local revenue that we had projected of sh650m, but we ended up getting only about sh222m,” Eyangu said.

He proposed new strategies for enhancing revenue collection, such as enforcing collection from existing sources and opening up new revenue sources.

With a significant portion of the budget allocated to civil servants’ salaries, the district has prioritised the construction of an OPD block at Awaliwal Health Centre III, the construction of pit latrines in most primary schools, the purchase of desks for learners, as well as roadworks and drilling eleven deep boreholes.

The district hopes to generate sh700m from local revenue and central government grants amounting to sh29b. They anticipate receiving sh3b in discretionary transfers, sh922m in other government transfers, and sh35m in donor or external financing.

“Sh35b are estimates to be realised and expended during the financial year 2025/2026. However, this figure is subject to changes as the district receives new indicative planning figures,” Eyangu told the council.

According to Eyangu, the district has so far spent sh12.9b out of the sh36b budgeted, representing 68.7%, and hopes that the balance of unspent releases will be sent by the close of the financial year in July.

Following concerns over government facilities being under threat from the community due to a lack of land titles, the district has allocated funds for the titling of four pieces of government land belonging to different institutions.

“We shall also demarcate 70 km of wetland boundaries as well as establish one agroforestry demo site in Oculoi subcounty,” Eyangu said.

With the rainy season setting in, the district has planned to supply 12,000 tree seedlings to selected institutions and farmers in the district.

The budget estimates are set to be discussed by respective council committees for subsequent approval in the next sitting.