Kigezi leaders urge special fund for new administrative units

Local authorities in Uganda’s Kigezi Sub-region have asked government to consider allocating special funds towards the physical planning activities of the newly created town councils to avoid slums, overcrowding and the associated negative health risks due to poor waste management.

On Thursday, leaders who attended a two-day regional budget consultative workshop for FY 2025/2026 at in Kabale District also decried problems resulting from an influx of Congolese refugees in border region districts such as Kisoro, Kanungu, Kabale and Kasese.

“Districts hosting refugee settlement and transit camps require special fund allocation to enable them to cope with the increasing number of refugees and migrants,” Kisoro District senior statistician Gilbert Ndagijimana argued.

According to him, “this special fund would help in the establishment of necessary infrastructure to handle different concerns.”

Ndagijimana’s counterparts from neighbouring districts recommended that provision of supplementary budgets should be done early enough for better absorption.

They also requested for hands-on training of local government staff on the upgraded IFMS,PBS and IRAS software application for better implementation of government programs.

“Under government’s Parish Development Model (PDM) program of wealth creation, there is a need to support implementation of all pillars. PDM beneficiaries need serious sensitisation in order to ensure success of the initiative,” Ndagijimana noted.

While delivering his keynote address to the participants, finance state minister Henry Musasizi implored leaders to interest themselves in ensuring that their budgets are in line with government priorities aimed at growing the economy ten-fold. He also remarked that budgets should be aligned with Uganda’s strategic direction, per the National Development Plan IV.

“You should ensure that your budget framework papers for FY2025/2026 are prepared in line with the grant guidelines. I urge you to finalize your respective development plans by March 31, 2025, to guide the budgetary releases in FY 2025/26," Musasizi said.

Topics that included budget implementation and service delivery, agro-industrial and natural resource management, tourism and sustainable energy, public sector transformation, human capital development and among others were discussed.

The ministry of finance recently confirmed that it was considering lifting a ban on creation of new administrative cities, a move that will see Uganda’s cities grow to 16, up from just over 10.