Why dividing Mbarara has crippled services 

The mother district is now crippling with inadequate funding and a reduced local revenue collection base since most of the would-be sources of revenue such as markets and trading licenses are now under the new districts and town councils, which command financial autonomy, leaders have observed. 

Former Mbarara District chairperson Capt (Rtd) John Bosco Tumusiime Bamuturaki observes that the mother district was reduced to a small administrative unit, whose revenue base was significantly affected.

“The creation of Rwampara District and the elevation of Mbarara Municipality to a city status meant that Mbarara District is now a small entity, but also with a small economic base.

However, the political and technical leadership structures remained the same amid reduced and small revenue, which automatically affects service delivery,” he said.

Mr Didas Tabaro, the district chairperson, said: “With the recent creation of the Rwampara District, Mbarara City, and five town councils, the mother (Mbarara District) has become smaller.

This calls for increased support from the central government, development partners and civil society organisations if we are to give the necessary service to our people.”

The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Mbarara, Mr Edward Kasagara, said they need to become innovative in order to raise revenue.

“We are becoming innovative in identifying other sources of revenue, but we also request the government to increase funding to ensure service delivery is not affected. We also expect funding from donors and non-governmental organisations so that we will be able to offer better services,” he said.

Mr Tabaro wants the central government to reconsider centralising town councils under their respective districts.

“The central government releases are becoming unreliable, right now, we have not received all the funding for the first quarter.

Our local revenue sources are very slim because of numerous town councils that were created, but even the little revenue sources that we had remained with were taken over by Uganda Revenue Authority,” he said.

Origin
Mbarara District, formerly Ankole District, was established in 1901 before the abolition of Ankole Kingdom in 1967, during Apollo Milton Obote’s government.

The district then bordered Tanzania and Rwanda in the South, Kigezi in the West, Tooro in the North and Masaka in the East.

The giant district initially comprised 10 counties of Kashari, Isingiro, Rwampara, Nyabushozi, Ibanda, Sheema, Kajara, Bunyaruguru, Igara, and Buhweju.

In 1973, however, Bushenyi District, which comprised Bunyaruguru County, Igara, Sheema and Buhweju counties, was carved out of Mbarara District, reducing the mother district to only seven counties. 

In 1995, Ntungamo District was created out of Kajara County, which was part of Bushenyi. Itojo Sub-county, which was under Mbarara, was also annexed to Ntungamo.

In 2005, the district was significantly dissected as three local governments of Isingiro, which comprised Isingiro County, Kiruhura which comprised Nyabushozi County, and Ibanda, which comprised Ibanda County were created.

The subdivision further balkanised Mbarara District with the creation of Mbarara City and Rwampara District on July 1, 2020 and 2019 respectively.

Mbarara has since birthed Bushenyi, Rubirizi, Mitooma, Sheema, Ibanda, Kiruhura, Kazo, Ntungamo, Isingiro, Rwampara and Mbarara City.

The sub-divisions have left Mbarara District with only two constituencies of Kashari North and Kashari South. 

The district now has six sub-counties of Rubindi, Bubaare, Bukiro, Kashare, Kagongi, and Rubaya, and the councils of Bwizibwera-Rutooma, Rwanyamahembe, Rubindi and Nyabisirira. It also has 46 parishes and 359 villages.

Mbarara borders Ibanda in the North, Kiruhura in the East, Mbarara City in South East, Rwampara in South West, Sheema in West, and Buhweju in North West.

The districts was named after its municipal centre, the city of Mbarara where her headquarters are located.  It is said the name Mbarara was derived from a common type of grass known as ‘emburara’, which was found in the district.

Mr Fred Ibabaza Kamugira, who was named governor because he led the greater Mbarara District as the chairperson from 1998 to 2006 said despite the bigger size and population of then greater Mbarara, they worked hard to ensure effective service delivery.

“We were able to deliver services because we were organised, had a good cooperative council. We had good financial control and good relations with the central government,” Mr Kamugira said.

He says while the districts are now smaller entities and easy to supervise, they face service delivery challenges.

“I don’t know the caliber of leadership these smaller entities have, but for us, we had a very good high caliber of leadership, hard working men and women right from LCIII chairperson to district councillors,” he said.

“We were operating without mobile phones, the road network was poor. During  elections, you had to meet more than 1.5 million people then, which was challenging, but we tried our best to serve our people and that’s why in my last term, I was elected unopposed,” he added.

Lessons
Weighing in on the matter, the former councillor of Mbarara Municipality, Ms Evelyn Walimbwa, said balkanisation of districts into smaller entities, including the Greater Mbarara has not created a bigger impact as earlier anticipated.

“The only difference is that maybe some jobs were created and leaders elected, but in terms of service delivery, Greater Mbarara performed better than these small divisions (districts),” she said.

She added: “Yes today, we have some tarmac roads, but who is funding them, they are donors. But during the Greater Mbarara times, we opened up many roads without going for loans as it is today. Don’t get excited, for example, over Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) roads in Mbarara City, these are just loans. Every person in Mbarara will have to service them (loans).”

Mr Apollo Mabati, a special presidential assistant in charge of civilian veterans, said it was more difficult to extend services to Greater Mbarara than it  is today.

“You would leave Mbarara at 6am in the morning and reach Burunga now in Kazo District at midday. From Kamwema in Isingiro District, it would take the whole day, but these days, you can inspect a district in one day,” he said.

Mr Mabati, who supported the subdivision of the Greater Mbarara, however, raises concern of lack of support from the central government to effect the implementations of some projects.

“These districts depend mostly on the central government releases, which are not reliable. The traditional districts in the country performed because they controlled their revenues. Some districts operating in the fourth quarter (last quarter of the financial year) are receiving funds for the third quarter,” he said.

Mr Aaron Turahi, the chairperson of Isingiro District, which was carved out of Mbarara in 2006, said the subdivision of Mbarara into other districts was a good idea, but they have been hampered by funding challenges.

“Having small entities without funding makes no sense, it is a waste of time. We are underfunded, that is what is letting us down,” he said.    

Limited funding and revenue sources could partly explain why the district is embroiled in a property row with Mbarara City.  

Mbarara District is supposed to relocate to Bwizibwera, the former Kashari County headquarters in Bwizibwera-Rutooma Town Council, 35 kilometres away from the current location in Kamukuzi, Mbarara City.

Before Mbarara got city status, it generated local revenue of Shs33.8m in the 2017/2018 Financial Year.  

Failure to have a sustainable budget explains why key areas for service delivery in the district such as works were allocated Shs764m (2.3 percent) and the natural resources sector got a meager Shs436.1m (1.3 percent) of the district’s  Shs32.8b budget for the Financial Year 2022/2023.

Of the Shs32.8b budget passed, local revenue is expected to contribute Shs1.3 billion. The rest of the funding is expected to come from the central government and donations.

Former secretary for works, who is now the MP for Kashari North, Mr Basil Bataringaya, appealed for not only increased central government funding to the district, but also the timely release of funds.

“True local governments need increased funding to directly cater for service delivery because most of the money released goes to administration and paying of salaries. The creation of new local governments and dwindling of local revenue sources also calls for the districts to be innovative through attracting development partners,” he said.  

shs1.3B Funding
Of the Shs32.8b budget passed for Mbarara District, local revenue is expected to contribute Shs1.3b. The rest of the funding is expected to come from the central government and donations.

Population
According to the 2014 census, the population of Ankole Sub-region (Greater Mbarara) is more than 3.2 million people, but Mbarara District alone has 472,629 people.

Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) in 2019 projected the district’s population to be 390,700. The economy of Mbarara mainly thrives on agriculture with matooke and cattle-keeping as the dominant activities.

Animal rearing accounts for 10 percent, crop farming 75.6 percent, fishing 0.1 percent, employment income 6.0 percent, trading in agricultural produce 4.8 percent, trading in non-agricultural products 2.6 and others 0.9 percent.