Gulu City Councilors petition President Museveni over delayed remittance of local revenue

GULU – Councilors of Gulu City Council and the two divisional councils of Bar Dege-Layibi and Pece Laroo have petitioned President Yoweri Museveni over the delay by the Central Government to remit local revenues.

For eight months, Gulu City has been operating without operational funds and local revenue remitted by the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development.

So far, the City has collected a total of Shs1.8 billion as local revenue, which has been remitted to the consolidated funds with Bank of Uganda.

Last year, the city council requested a supplementary budget of Shs 3.8 billion, which is yet to be presented on the floor of parliament.

In this financial year ending June, Parliament approved a budget of only Shs 490 million for Gulu City.

Lamex Lambert Akena, a City councilor says, on several occasions, the Gulu City leadership including Members of Parliament have raised the matter on the floor of parliament, held several meetings with ministers for the matter to be resolved in vain.

Akena says, the decision of the councilors and division leaders to petition President Museveni is to present to him how the city is struggling to operate without funds. The city leadership have vowed to camp in front of State House Entebbe should they be blocked from meeting the head of state.

The new financial management system, the Integrated Revenue Administrative System (IRAS) tasks Local Government to remit all their local revenue collections to the consolidated fund with Bank of Uganda before it is disbursed to the Local Government upon approval of their activities and budgets.

According to Akena, they requested for a supplementary budget from what they have collected themselves as the city but the ministry has kept quiet.

Robert Komakech, the Speaker of Bar-dege Layibi division says, as a result of the delayed remittance of local revenue by the Central Government, services like garbage collection, payment of utilities like water and electricity, opening and rehabilitation of community roads among others have been greatly affected.

Morris Odong, the Layibi South Division City Councilor wonders why the central government has in the recent past transferred town clerks so frequently. This he says, also affected the following up of the local revenue among other services that the Central Government should provide to the local governments.

Patrick Oola Lumumba, the Bar dege Layibi Division Mayor says, they are considering organizing a joint council meeting to resolve abandoning the use of the Integrated Revenue Administrative System (IRAS) saying, it has negatively impacted on the administration of the city and the division.

Lumumba says, as leaders who receive emoluments instead of salaries, they have not been paid for the last seven months and are currently struggling financially.

Lumumba further said, they want to revert to the older financial management system where local revenue is spent at source saying, it will ease and improve service delivery to the community members.

Florence Lalam, the Female Councilor for Laroo Pece, accused the Central Government officials of literally stealing their money which is meant to provide services to the locals from whom the money is collected.

Jim Mugunga, the Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development wondered whether the authorities followed all the required procedures to apply for the funds and were not remitted.

In a recent interview, Alfred Okwonga, the Gulu City Mayor said, they had followed all the procedures of requesting for the funds from the Ministry of Finance of which the ministry had asked until the end of February for the anomalies to be sorted.

Mugunga says, currently the government is cashless and that could be the reason for the delay in remittance of the funds to the city.

https://thecooperator.news/agm-bushenyi-saccos-continue-to-perform-well-despite-covid-19-huddles/

Buy your copy of thecooperator magazine from one of our countrywide vending points or an e-copy on emag.thecooperator.news

The post Gulu City Councilors petition President Museveni over delayed remittance of local revenue appeared first on The Cooperator News.

Gulu City Inks Garbage Landfill Deal

GULU – Gulu City Council authorities have inked a Shs 3.5 billion deal with German Development Corporation for the construction of a garbage landfill in the city.

The garbage landfill, measuring about seven hectares, is located at Agwee Ward, approximately three kilometers from the heart of the city.

The eight months’ contract with Geomax Engineering, a local construction firm, was signed on May 26 at Churchill Courts Hotel.

Robert Towler, team leader of German Development Corporation, said his government has an 18 year strategic plan to improve garbage management, water and sanitation in the city.

Towler said the garbage landfill will reduce pollution of ground waters by 65 percent and urged city authorities to prioritize garbage management, water supply and sanitation.

The project financed by the German Development Bank-(KFW) will see 20 percent of the funds disbursed to the construction firm released shortly after the commissioning of the works.

“We have streamlined the transaction to keep corruption away from the project and we expect the grant to achieve its target of supporting the local communities,” Towler added.

Alfred Okwonga, the Gulu city mayor, warned the district technical team supervising the project and the contractor against corruption and shoddy work.

https://thecooperator.news/gulu-boda-boda-riders-curse-politicians/

Michael Ocan Christopher, the Gulu City environment officer, said the processing plant will help boost the energy sector within the city when waste is recycled.

The project comes at the time when the council is struggling to dispose of huge piles of garbage within the city.

A report written by the Gulu City Council Health Department found that of 137 tons of solid waste produced daily in the city, only 10% is collected and disposed of.

With a single operational garbage truck, the council struggles to collect garbage from several places.

Biodegradable waste in the city accounts for 76%, plastic 5%, metal 3%, polythene 7% and other demolition debris accounts for 9% respectively, which has piled up at major collection points.

At Gulu Main Market, Jenifer Kamao, who sells second hand shoes, says her business is struggling to survive since her stall is next to the cabbage collection point.

Stephen Opwonya, the chairman of Gulu Disabled Cooperative, told this reporter that the group has lost business in the market square due to poor sanitation.

“We had to abandon mending shoes because the narrow space in the market square allocated to us is again turned into a garbage collection point,” Opwonya explained.

However, the 2019 Gulu District Health Department report found that 20,663 people got worm infections arising from poor sanitation.

At least 29,866 suffered from skin diseases, 25,588 from urinary tract infections while 24,606 got diarrhea.

Buy your copy of theCooperator magazine from one of our countrywide vending points or an e-copy on emag.thecooperator.news

The post Gulu City Inks Garbage Landfill Deal appeared first on The Cooperator News.