Sironko holds budget conference

Sironko district chairman has decried the poor collection and management of local revenue from markets and other sources leaving the district to depend on only central government grants that account for over 95 percent of the district annual budget.

Herbert Mulekwa who made the remarks while opening a 2016/2017 district budget conference at Adaptation Learning Centre Hall in Sironko town, told the meeting that in the last financial year only one percent of the local revenue was collected.

He called on the local councilors to mobilize residents towards paying taxes to help the district fund community development projects adding that the district technical staff should promote budget transparency by opening a budget website and holding regular barazas (community platforms) at sub-counties.

On staffing, the chairman said keeping district civil servants in key positions in acting capacity has been identified as one of the factors affecting service delivery and compromising decision making adding that the district service commission should recruit staff on merit to serve the district.

In his remarks, the chief administrative officer (CAO) Anthony Martin Lukwago, discouraged the district politicians against agitating for the creation of more town councils in the district but establish more markets and operationalize local council courts to bolster local revenue.

Lukwago who advised residents to improve their sanitation and observe good hygiene to keep away diseases, called on farmers to take advantage of the rich volcanic soils in the hilly district to engage in agricultural activities as one way of improving their household incomes thereby contribute to the government goal of attaining middle income status by 2020.

In her presentation, the district education officer Sarah Bugoosi expressed concern over the high school drop- out rate in both primary and secondary schools and the lack of supervision by school management committees in primary schools.

Bugoosi told the meeting that only 35 percent of pupils complete their primary education while 60 percent of secondary school students study up to senior four.

The district community development officer Joseph Ojiambo said community centres set up by government in the 1960s in Bumasifwa, Buwalasi, Buhugu, Busulani and Buyobo sub-counties are in a dilapidated state and non-functional.

In the reactions, participants who included Budadiri East Member of Parliament Vincent Waboya expressed varying opinions on the creation of more town councils and sub-counties in the district.

Participants who urged the district to mobilize resources and build its own council chambers instead of spending money on hiring conference halls, called on the district council to come up with by-laws and ordinances to punish individuals who abuse agricultural in-puts distributed to them under the government programme of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) being supervised by senior Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (UPDF) officers.