ULAA decries low revenue

Nov 07, 2002

POOR districts should be given ample time to submit their Local Government Development Programme co-funding contributions, the president of the Uganda Local Authorities Association Capt. John Emilly Otekat, has said

POOR districts should be given ample time to submit their Local Government Development Programme (LGDP) co-funding contributions, the president of the Uganda Local Authorities Association (ULAA), Capt. John Emilly Otekat, has said.

Richard Otim reports that Otekat said low revenue collections in poor districts had caused a delay in submitting their contribution.

He said 80% of local revenue for most of the poor districts was from the Graduated Tax whose collection had dropped due to local council politics.

Otekat said this recently while addressing a team of local government officials who had come to clarify on the district’s LGDP status at Soroti district chambers. He told staff that Soroti district was fined 20% of the 1b LGDP funding.

“Poor districts should be treated in relation to their levels of revenue collection. The 20% penalty given to Soroti for not doing well could have benefited the district in many ways,” Otekat said.

He said development programmes in the district had drastically dropped as a result of the introduction of sh3,000 graduated tax tickets. He urged the ministry to review the LGDP co-funding policy to accommodate interests of the poor districts.

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