Ntungamo councillors protest budget changes

What you need to know:

  • A section of councillors in December 2017 petitioned the Inspectorate of government, calling for investigations into budgeting disparities.
    This time, the councillors have threatened to stop the implementation of the budget until an explanation on why reallocations in the budget were done without informing council is given.

The Ntungamo District councillors have accused the technocrats of altering budget activities approved by the council.
Mr Denis Muhumuza Savimbi, the councillor for Itojo Sub-county, said they recently discovered that changes have been made in the 2017/2018 financial year budget, although the total amount of money has remained the same.

“If the district council passed a budget, it is the budget that must be followed through the financial year with all its priorities; we can’t be taken for a ride,” Mr Muhumuza said.
He added: “The Chief Administrative Officer and the technical staff uploaded a different budget in the system and when we ask, they give us no explanation.”

The council approved Shs37.7b as the district budget for 2017/2018 in May 2017. Shs1.2b was to be generated locally, while Shs36.4b was to come from the central government. The donors were to contribute Shs47b.
According to Mr Muhumuza, the original planned expenditure on education, water, roads, and production projects and management activities has been altered and inquiries into the conduct have yielded no explanation.
The district speaker, Mr Elijah Atuheire, said disregarding the council-approved budget is disastrous to the district and disempowers the councillors.

“What we passed and what we are operating on are different budgets, that I can confirm. Only that we have a budget. It is, however, unfortunate that someone ‘touched’ our budget. We don’t know who it is and why they did it, we are seeking explanation, otherwise the council is irrelevant,” Mr Atuheire said.

Ms Sakinah Ampeire, the district secretary for finance, who presented the budget to the council, said it was developed from the views which emerged from budget conferences and after multi stakeholder involvement.
“We have also been concerned as the district executive on how the budget is running. We have been technically told that the budget that was passed is not being implemented the way it was passed. We have intervened and we think may be things may be put right,” Ms Ampaire, who doubles as the district vice chairperson, said.
The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Mr Kweyamba Ruhemba, however, said on Tuesday that the finance committee had endorsed the contested budget.

“We have been in the finance committee and they have accepted the budget is right. Yes, there have been some issues but you also know I was not here. When we went to the finance committee yesterday (Monday), the committee accepted this was the right budget,” Mr Ruhemba told Daily Monitor on Tuesday. He was transferred to Ntungamo from Sheema District on July 6 last year.
Mr Steven Basiime Bangirana, the chairperson finance committee, acknowledged they had a meeting with the technocrats over the matter and endorsed some of the adjustments.

He blamed the executive for not playing its oversight role.
The district chairperson, Mr Denis Singahanche, said key priorities for funding have been dropped without clear explanation to the district executive.
Among the priorities dropped are funding for two newly-established institutes - Ntungamo Polyotechnic Institute Rushenyi and Ntungamo Primary Teachers College. The two institutes were set up by the district council at Rubaare Sub-county in the premises vacated by Reynolds Construction Company in 2016.

Others are construction of toilet facilities in 12 schools in the district, shallow wells and various feeder roads.
A member of the technical budget committee, who spoke to Daily Monitor on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that adjustments were made in the budget. According to the member, it was found out that the passed budget needed adjustment because financial allocations of some key sectors were not enough, while more money had been allocated to the administration for monitoring of projects.

“For example, money for maintenance of buildings and compound at the district was only Shs6m the whole financial year, yet this can only be finished in one quarter. A lot of money had been allocated to monitoring of projects yet the money for projects was not enough. Other projects were to begin yet the old projects had not been completed. When we sat down, we had to adjust despite expectation that the council would not be comfortable with it. We thought they would finally understand,” the source said.