By KT Reporter
Nakasongola District Councilors have refused to approve the proposed budget for the financial year 2025/26, citing insufficient time for review and inconsistencies in the draft. On Wednesday, Betty Namukwaya, the District Secretary for Finance, presented a proposed budget of 38.1 billion shillings to the council.
Namukwaya requested that the councilors receive, discuss, and approve the budget within a single day—a shift from the usual procedure, where the councilors return on a separate day to debate and approve the budget after scrutiny in their sectoral committees.
Winston Aggrey Muramira, the Nakasongola District Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), defended the change, explaining that a circular from the Ministry of Finance, issued in February 2025, mandated that all districts table and approve their budgets by Thursday, March 20, 2025.
Muramira urged the councilors to accept the shift to ensure timely submission of the budget and avoid penalties associated with delays. The District Speaker, Sunday Bwanga Rogers, ruled that the council should adjourn for a few hours to allow councilors to scrutinize the budget through their sectoral committees, with immediate reporting back.
However, upon reconvening, councilors from the Works Committee, chaired by Samuel Butagasa, and the Finance Committee, led by Rogers Kulaba, reported that they had not been able to properly scrutinize the budget due to the limited time. They requested the council be adjourned to another day to allow further examination.
Determined to ensure the budget’s approval, the District Vice Chairperson, Samuel Tingira, tabled a motion to transform the council into a committee of the whole house and allow all sectoral reports to be scrutinized under the guidance of the Speaker. Despite this, several councilors protested and walked out, refusing to approve the budget.
Rogers Semanda Kulaba, the Chairperson of the Finance Committee, questioned the CAO’s explanation about the looming deadline, expressing dissatisfaction over the delayed notice to the Speaker, which had been issued a month ago.
Kulaba suggested that tabling the budget just a day before the deadline might have been a strategy to push through an unexamined document. He further criticized the inconsistencies, such as reports of completed roads when no such work had been observed on the ground.
Patrick Kitaka, the District Councilor for Kalungi Sub-County, accused the Speaker of overstepping their authority by ignoring their request to adjourn the council to another day for proper scrutiny.
Other councilors voiced concerns that approving the budget without adequate review could lead to misuse of taxpayers’ money. At 7:30 pm, under pressure from the councilors, Speaker Rogers Bwanga Sande adjourned the sitting to Thursday.
The adjournment made it challenging to achieve the required quorum, as only 14 of the 17 councilors remained by that time, forcing the Speaker to delay further. Bwanga instructed the councilors to use the night to review the budget and reconvene the next day to approve it in compliance with the Ministry of Finance’s deadline.
It remains to be seen whether the councilors will return on Thursday and reach an agreement to pass the district budget as per the Ministry of Finance’s directive. Over the past four years, Nakasongola District Council has faced several setbacks in budget approvals due to disagreements, leading to financial losses and disruption in service delivery. Some projects have been implemented without council approval, while others have been withdrawn, leaving the district in turmoil-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
