Hoima, Entebbe trail in local revenue collections

Kampala. Hoima, Entebbe and Mbale municipalities, as of three financial years back, collected the least local revenue to co-fund huge infrastructure upgrades under the World Bank-funded Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development Programme (USMID).
A report by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Local Government shows that Hoima collected only Shs272m of the targeted Shs2b while Entebbe collected one-third of the projected Shs3.6b.
Mbale mustered one-quarter of its Shs4.8b target while Masaka could only raise Shs1.6b out of the expected Shs3.3b.
Hoima’s Town Clerk David Kyasanku said he needs to cross-check with the municipality’s financial records to comment authoritatively.
“I do not want to speculate; I want to be factual,” Mr Kyasanku said yesterday.
On his part, Entebbe’s town clerk Charles Magumba said: “I have not seen the report so I cannot comment on what I have not seen and read.”
According to the report, Soroti Municipality collected Shs868m to surpass its Shs843m target.
Soroti’s Town Clerk Moses Otimong attributed the municipality’s superb performance to time and sensitisation for taxpayers.
“These pronouncements about taxi parks had not yet come out,” Mr Otimong said, alluding to President Museveni’s directive that commuter minibuses plying Kampala roads or operating within 21 kilometres from Kampala pay Shs720,000 while those operating on upcountry routes pay Shs840,000 per year.
“The management of the parks was a major source of revenue for Soroti. Soroti bus park was constructed on Public Private Partnership. People bought spaces and a lot of revenue was raised from that.”