West Nile residents unhappy with ‘limited impact’ of budget

Arua, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Ugandans in West Nile have expressed concern over what they described as the ‘little impact’ of the budget on the region. The government has earmarked over sh74 trillion for the financial year 2025-2026, up from sh52 trillion , with priorities in security, infrastructure, science and innovation, among others.

According to Fadhil Lemeriga, a resident of Arua City, the burden of external and internal debt, coupled with what he sees as corrupt tendencies in government circles, drastically reduces the expected impact of the budget.

Zuria Pimer Sadik, a youth in Arua, wonders why the ever-increasing budget has not been able to transform the lives of ordinary Ugandans through economic empowerment programs. Zuria says there is a need to follow the money by all stakeholders and local leaders to ensure that it reaches the targeted beneficiaries of the budget.

Salim Komakech, the Resident City Commissioner of Arua, however challenged the people of West Nile to invest and use productively what has been allocated to them in the national budget under livelihood enhancement and avoid wastage.

According to this year’s budget allocation, programs like Emyooga and Parish Development Model have been allocated a 3.5 trillion Shillings chunk, and most of this money is expected to benefit the youth and women.

How the Uganda budget resource for FY2025/26 are allocated

1⃣ Wages & Salaries – Shs 8.57 trillion
2⃣ Non-Wage Recurrent Expenditure—Shs 28.33 trillion (includes operations, wealth creation funds, science & tech, education & health grants, medicines, infrastructure maintenance, and interest payments)
3⃣ Development Expenditure – Shs 18.24 trillion
4⃣ Domestic Debt Refinancing – Shs 10.03 trillion
5⃣ Debt Amortization – Shs 4.98 trillion
6⃣ Repayment to Bank of Uganda – Shs 493 billion
7⃣ Clearing Domestic Arrears – Shs 1.4 trillion
8⃣ Local Government (Own Revenue) – Shs 328.6 billion

Financing strategy

✳ Improving tax administration to raise an additional Shs 1.89 trillion.
✳ Introduction of new tax measures to increase domestic revenue by Shs 538.6 billion.
✳ Rationalising tax exemptions to eliminate inefficient ones that do not support industrial policy.
✳ Repurposing resources in the budget for FY 2024/25 from less productive to high-impact areas in line with the Tenfold Growth Strategy.
✳ Mobilising more concessional financing from international financial institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, BADEA, etc.
✳ Mobilising development finance from other innovative sources, including Public Private Partnerships, climate finance, private equity, Sukuk bonds, Panda bond, diaspora bonds, etc.