Civil society organisations (CSOs) have urged the government to provide more funding for infrastructure rehabilitation, development in education, and health sectors, among others, to effectively deliver services to the people of Uganda.
This call was made during the Local Government Regional Budget Consultations FY 2024/25 on Thursday, September 21, 2023, at Sun Set Hotel, Jinja.
In their statement, civil society organisations made recommendations to the government that it ought to provide more funds in a number of areas of the sector.
“Infrastructure rehabilitation and development in the education and health sectors, supporting local revenue mobilisation, improving staffing in local governments, and rationalising, repurposing, and prudently utilising the available resources to effectively deliver services to the people of Uganda are all services the government can improve on,” the statement read.
Local governments represented by LCVs, CAOs, mayors, and RDCs, among others, also presented a joint statement urging the government to increase funding for LGs to improve service delivery, allow the recruitment of adequate staff, and enhance salaries for all public servants, among other requests.
Dr. Fixon Akonya Okonye, the Internal Auditor General who represented Finance Minister Matia Kasaija, highlighted the budget priorities for the next FY, which included agricultural production and value addition, climate change, and the management of food security. Others include the implementation of PDM, consolidating infrastructure development, and human capital development, among others.
Dr. Akonya also asked the populace to support the Parish Development Model implementation efforts.
“I implore all of us to embrace the efforts towards the implementation of the Parish Development Model, and all accounting officers are requested to facilitate their respective political leaders to effectively participate in the budget preparation, execution, and reporting processes,” Dr. Akonya said.
The nation-wide regional local government budget consultations are also taking place in Fort Portal, where Acting Commissioner Budget Policy and Evaluation at the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, John Muheirwoha, is representing the Finance Minister.
Muheirwoha has urged LGs to strengthen their revenue administration and collection enhancement measures through automation of processes and putting in place the right policies, by-laws, and ordinances that promote local revenue enhancement.