KCCA passes 441.79 billion budget amidst protest of meager allocations

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA council has passed a Shillings 441.79 billion budget for the financial year 2022/2023, but leaders are still unhappy about the meager allocations.

The Executive Secretary for Finance and Administration, John Ssebuwufu presented the budget before the council highlighting key items like the construction and re-development of six city markets which is budgeted at shillings 1.7 billion, city greening at shillings 1.2 billion and drainage improvement at shillings 8.6 billion.

Public health has been budgeted at shillings 20 billion, while construction of roads has been allocated shillings 205 billion and maintenance of roads Shillings 26.35 billion funded directly under the Road Fund.

Last year, KCCA launched a five-year strategic plan estimated at shillings 7 trillion anticipating that the authority would be allocated at least a trillion and a half shillings annually for its implementation. But to the disappointment of political leaders, less than half of the annual projections have been allocated.

Ssebuwufu told the house that efforts must be made to lobby for more funding from central government.

The Deputy Lord Mayor Doreen Nyanjura says that with the poor funding of KCCA, government seems to treat Kampala as a modern village not a capital city from which more than half of the country’s annual revenue collections are met. She says the KCCA budget should be increased from the current 1 percent to 3 percent of the total national budget if they are indeed to achieve the 2020 strategic plan.

The councilor representing youths, Allan Mwesigwa says the budget allocation to KCCA is unfair being that over 60 percent of the country’s revenue comes from Kampala.

Before the budget was approved, KCCA Council Standing Committees presented reports from their scrutiny of allocations made to their line directorates.

Faridah Nakabugo, the chairperson of the Steering Committee of Engineering says the allocation for road construction is minimal considering the dire state in which city roads and drainage system are. Only 616km of the 2,110km of city roads are tarmacked.

She says although the budget plans for solar street lightning at shillings 500 million, signalization of 30 junctions at shillings 22 billion (funded by JICA) and Shillings 300 million to buy 500 manhole covers among other items, more funds should be allocation to improve the city Infrastructure especially the city drainage system.

In his presentation, the chairman of the Public Health Standing Committee Francis Mbaziira also listed a number of unfunded priorities. They included the development of Dundu Land Fill estimated at Shillings 20 billion, procurement of personal protective gear for cleaners budged at Shillings 1.5 billion, construction of public toilets at Shillings one billion and procurement of cleaning services costed at Shillings 2.56 billion among others.

This is the first budget call circular of the budget framework process to be concluded next year. It will be submitted to the Minister for Kampala for consideration and forwarding to the Minister of Finance by close of business Friday 12th November 2021.

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