NRM caucus backs new city, districts in Tororo and Bundibugyo

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The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) Parliamentary Caucus has approved plans to elevate Tororo Municipality to city status and divide Tororo district into three new districts: Mukuju, Mulanda, and Kisoko.

In a parallel decision, the caucus and government resolved to carve Bugendera district out of Bundibugyo, a move intended to decentralise services and ease long-standing ethnic tensions.

Local government minister Raphael Magyezi said the new administrative units would be “deemed created” in July 2025, in line with Section 7(13) of the Local Government Act.

This means the districts and the city will take effect six months before the 2026 general elections. The Attorney General and Electoral Commission will determine when elections for the new constituencies are held.

“Currently, Tororo district has one woman MP, and Tororo Municipality has a municipal MP,” Magyezi explained.

“With the creation of these new units, each of the three districts will have a woman MP, the city will have a city woman MP, and the two divisions will each have an MP.”

Magyezi estimated the cost of operationalising the new units at about sh26 billion but defended the expenditure as essential to bring services closer to citizens.

“Yes, there is a cost, but there is an advantage,” he said, citing Uganda’s 5.3 percent annual urbanisation rate, one of the fastest in Africa, as justification for decentralisation.

Government Chief Whip Hamson Denis Obua told reporters on September 13, 2025, that the NRM caucus had unanimously supported the proposal during a meeting at State House Entebbe, describing it as a step towards improving service delivery and resolving long-standing disputes in Bundibugyo.

Critics, however, have warned that the additional districts and city seats will further inflate the size of Parliament, which already has more than 500 legislators.
Magyezi insisted the process is both legal and demand-driven.

“Once I get a council resolution from a district, my responsibility is to carry out a technical study. If it is viable, I present it to Cabinet and Parliament. This process is within the law, and we are simply following it.”

The new districts and Tororo city are expected to be included in the Electoral Commission’s roadmap for the 2026 polls, expanding representation and adding new constituencies to Uganda’s legislature.

Moses Acrobert Kiiza, MP for Bugendera County in Bundibugyo, said residents welcomed the development.

“President Museveni had pledged to create Bugendera district back in 2011,” Kiiza said.

Julius Mucunguzi, spokesperson of the Electoral Commission, stressed that such reforms must be presented in good time to allow the commission to plan adequately.

“We will then review and establish what needs to be done to implement the law. When it will be passed, we do not know. If it will be passed, we do not know,” Mucunguzi added.

Timothy Chemonges, executive director of the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA), criticised the move as prioritising political expediency over rational planning.

“Every new district comes with a full bureaucracy RDCs, CAOs, technical staff, and MPs all of which expand the recurrent wage bill at a time when government is struggling with debt servicing, revenue mobilisation, and underfunded service sectors,” Chemonges said.

He warned that Uganda’s experience with newly created cities, many of which remain underfunded and non-operational, demonstrates the risks of expanding administrative units without adequate planning, financing, or institutional readiness.

“This is less about service delivery and more about multiplying political positions,” he added, noting that the trend of splitting districts increases the wage bill and stretches already high administrative costs.