Arua district local government has cuts it budget from shillings 45 billion the last year financial year to shillings 42 billion this new financial year. Muzamil Acema, Arua district finance secretary says they revised the budget due to the reduction of funding from central government because of the financial crisis and high inflation in the country.
Tabling the budget estimates today, Acema told the fully packed council that they will not undertake major development projects in the 2012/2013 financial year because of the financial crisis at the national level. According to the budget estimates shillings 31 billion will be spent on the wage bill with education taking the lion’s share of shillings 24 billion, health 4 billion, marketing and production 3 billion, while the natural resources and environment will get slightly above 2 billion shillings.
Only shillings 10 million has been earmarked for development projects. Acema appealed to the district council to minimize expenditures on workshop travels and address corruption to ensure the proper use of funds.
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Some of the councilors could not hide their anger despite the fact that they were not allowed to debate the budget, they described as a salary budget. Hamza Manzu, the councilor for Ogoko Sub County warned that the district council risks being seen as a giant for nothing if it does deliver services to residents. He accuses the technical officers in the finance department of corruption and frustrating their efforts to deliver services to the residents.
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Florence Saru, the councilor representing Dadamu Sub County wondered why newly created districts curved out of Arua developing fast while the mother district lags behind. She called for action against politicians and civil servants who connive to embezzle money if the district is to develop.
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Members of the public have also joined the councilors in condemning poor allocation of the budget to core sectors. Titia Kamure, a resident of Arua Municipality says that the biggest problem faced by residents is lack of food but says it is very disturbing to see the council only allocating 7.1 percent of the budget to the production sector. He says the budget would have made sense if the money didn’t include wages.
