Mukono district draws sh44b budget estimate

Mukono district council has drawn a sh44b budget for the financial year 2019/2010, with the major focus on improving the quality of the livelihood of the locals by reducing poverty levels in the district.

The district secretary for finance, planning and technical services, Anna Lubulwa said the overall objectives of this budget is to ensure effective service delivery through strategic planning, equitable resource allocation and reducing inequalities so as to attain sustainable growth and development.

Lubulwa said the budget is targeting agriculture, agro-processing, agribusiness, trade, education, health and tourism as key sectors to boost faster growth.

She said, during the financial year 2018/2019, the district had planned to collect and appropriate sh43b comprising of sh41b as direct central government grants and other government transfers, sh379m from donor partners and sh1.689m proposed to be raised from local revenue.

Mukono district councilors paying attention as the budget was being read.  (Photo by Henry Nsubuga)

"However, by the end of February 2019, we had realised total revenue of sh31b. Atleast sh28b were central government transfers, sh2b from other government units, sh30m from development partners and sh904m raised from the local revenue," she noted.

She said out of the sh1.686m projected to be raised from local revenue, only sh904m had been realised to date, saying it is below the average.

"I have therefore noted and recommend the need to collectively sensitise the community and our tax payers about the importance of paying taxes for better service delivery and effective provision of social services," she said.

According to the sh2.5m estimated from the local hotel tax, the district realised only sh200,000, the sh10m which was planned to be raised from registration of businesses, only sh2.4m was got, also, sh200,000 were realised from the market charges instead of the projected sh20m.

Sylvia Kyobe, the woman councilor for Nama and Kyampisi sub-county making a submission in the council after reading the budget. (Photo by Henry Nsubuga)

The district has a number of projected items which it did not register even a cent, these include; stamp duty, sh36m, rent and rates, sh162m, sale of non-produced government properties, sh109m, animal and crop husbandly related levies, sh4.3m and the miscellaneous receipts/incomes, sh45m.

She read that in the financial year 2019/2010, they are planning to do the following things  in the health sector; renovation and remodelling of Nakifuma maternity block, construction of Kojja outpatient department including the laboratory block, construction of staff quarters at Koome, Kabanga and Kansambwe Health Centre IIIs, among other services.

Among the overriding challenges to the health sector highlighted in the budget are; lack of government general hospitals, inadequate staff quarters at health facilities leading to late coming and absenteeism, inadequate medicines and health supplies in Health Centre IVs, lack of government ambulances in the district for referrals and inadequate funding to health units to clear electricity bills.

In the financial year 2018/2019, the education department is said to have completed one of eight  staff houses at Bunyiri Muslim Primary School in Kyampisi sub-county at a cost of sh146m, construction of 5 classroom blocks, offices, staffroom with a store, a five stance and two stance VIP latrine blocks at Namutambi Primary School in Nakisunga sub-county by the Global Partnership and Uganda Teacher School Effectiveness Project (UTSEP) under World Bank and Ministry of Education funding.

The district chairman, Andrew Ssenyonga asked the councilors to carryout sensitisation drives amongst the electorate about the advantages of paying taxes in order to increase on the local revenue.

"The district will only be able to tackle all the demands of your people if it realises a slight increase of the local revenue which will give a solution to the over dependency of the grants from the central government which are mostly conditional," he said.

The council which was held on Friday was chaired by Emmanuel Mbonye, the Mukono district speaker.