Arua Central Division in Arua City has registered poor performance in local revenue collection, with councillors blaming the shortfall on inadequate taxpayer education and engagement, as well as failure to follow up on revenue arrears.
A bi-quarterly report by the division’s Finance, Planning and Administration Committee shows that only about three hundred and four million shillings was collected in July, against a target of about six hundred million shillings.
The report says the division identified and assessed one hundred and seventy-five revenue sources to finance its budget for the 2026/2027 Financial Year, in addition to central government transfers.
While presenting the report during the second council sitting on Wednesday afternoon, the Chairperson of the Finance, Planning and Administration Committee, Ejotre Abdul Salam, said the division has local revenue arrears of more than two billion shillings from major revenue sources.
Ejotre cited resistance among some revenue sources as a major challenge to achieving the revenue collection target.
He also pointed to vendors in Arua Taxi Park, particularly vendor group leaders, who he said had failed to comply because of internal irregularities.
Collections from most of the local revenue sources have fallen below the assessments made for the current financial year.
For example, one of the tendered revenue sources has so far raised only about twenty-one million shillings, against an assessment of more than two hundred and sixty-eight million shillings.
Other sources, including market rent and property rates, have also registered low collections.
The poor performance marks a reversal of the division’s previous growth in local revenue collection.
The division increased its annual collections from about one-point-five billion shillings in the 2022/2023 Financial Year to about four billion shillings the following year, before reaching about five-point-five billion shillings in 2024/2025.
By August last year, the division had already collected about six hundred and seventy-eight million shillings towards a target of more than four-point-six billion shillings for the 2025/2026 Financial Year.
Awindiri Ward Female Councillor, Nadia Hassan, attributes the decline to the failure of the division’s technical team to maintain strategies used by the former Town Clerk, Drakuma Malik.
She says Malik regularly engaged taxpayers and educated them about their tax obligations.
Nadia also cites the recently implemented trade order in Arua City as another factor contributing to the decline in local revenue collections.
She says some businesses either closed or relocated because they were not adequately sensitised ahead of the implementation of the order, although it intended to organise trading activities in the city.
Division leaders have been tasked with fostering unity and playing their role in mobilising taxpayers to comply with their obligations in order to achieve the local revenue target for the current financial year.
Arua Central Division Town Clerk, Kisule Frank, has committed to improving revenue collection and acknowledged the challenges affecting performance, while calling for teamwork.
“Through you, Mr Speaker, sir, I would like to inform you that we, as the executives, our ears are always on the ground,” he said.
However, councillor representing Older Persons, Aliga Yunus, remains confident that revenue collection will improve if all stakeholders work together to mobilise taxpayers and adopt strategies that encourage compliance.
Arua Central Division initially approved a budget of six point seven billion shillings for the 2026/2027 Financial Year. The budget was later increased to seven billion shillings after council approved an additional three hundred million shillings for the construction of the division headquarters.
