Local govt financing hits sh7.3 trillion

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Financing of local government services has greatly improved compared to 10 years ago, New Vision Online has learnt.

Finance minister Matia Kasaija has said the funding has increased from shillings 2.3 trillion in the financial year 2015/2016 to shillings 7.345 trillion in the financial year 2025/2026, representing 10 percent of the National Budget.

Substantial increases have gone towards the operations of education, health, water and environment and agriculture sub-programmes, according to Kasaija.

The development was contained in a keynote address delivered by Owechi Hellen Jenny, the commissioner internal audit at the Local Government Budget Consultative workshop for the financial year 2026/2027. It was held at Margaritha Palace Hotel in Lira City on Monday, September 15, 2025.

Odongo making a contribution during the consultative meeting at Margaritha Palace Hotel in Lira City on Monday. (Credit: Joseph Ekol)

The additional resources, according to Kasaija, have gone towards the Parish Development Model and Emyooga, aimed at providing revolving funds at the lowest level of governance to increase household incomes and improve the livelihood of the citizens.

District chairpersons to get cars

He also noted lack of transport equipment for monitoring government programmes, saying the Government is addressing the issue using a phased approach.

Accordingly, shillings 35.2 billion were provided in the budget for this financial year towards the purchase of cars for district chairpersons and mayors for city and municipal.

"Procurement is in advanced stages by the ministry of Local Government and delivery is expected by the end of November," he said at the meeting, which drew local government leaders in all districts in Lango region, including Kotido.

According to Kasaija, the Government upgraded 340 health centres II to III status and constructed 31 new ones.

He added that while 190 out of 259 seed secondary schools have been constructed so far, a total of shillings 406.2 billion and 207 billion have been provided under education and health, respectively, for operationalisation of these facilities for staff recruitment, equipment and primary health care capitation grants.

"More facilities will be upgraded and constructed through the Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer successor programme, whose drafting process," he said.

Local govt concerns

Irar Peter Abrahams, the mayor of Kotido municipality, raised concerns about the district service commissioning, saying the corruption in the commission has become a critical matter that needs urgent attention.

He said most of them receive meagre pay, while the district chairperson earns a salary of shillings two million monthly.

"They have become so vulnerable, but the only mitigation is for the Government to pay them well, and corruption will just die," he said.

Alebtong Resident District Commissioner Geoffrey Okiswa said the Government must recruit massively to bridge human resource gaps hindering service delivery in the local government.

He suggested that because of massive corruption, the district service commission should be regionalised.

Jackline Angwec, the Apac district human resource officer, said the Government should also look at enhancing the salaries of humanity teachers, which has caused a lot of disharmony among teachers.