Gulu district administration building. Photos by Simon Wokorach
By Simon Wokorach
Gulu
Gulu district local government has seen a drastic reduction in the amount of locally raised revenue after the presidential directive against the sale of forest products in the northern region.
On May 19, 2023, President Museveni issued a ban contained in the Executive Order No. 3 on sale of forest products following the rampant cutting of tree for charcoal and timber.
The ban which is now under enforcement has prompted several dealers in forest products to abandon the trade, after their trucks of logs of wood and charcoal were confiscated, sending them into losses worth millions of shillings.
Now, leaders in the district are saying the restriction on trade in forest products has led to a reduction in the amount of revenue collected.
Financial records from the district shows that only Shs125m was realized of its proposed shs900m in local revenue in the first two quarters of 2023/2024 financial year compared to shs600m in the financial year 2022/2023.
Phoebe Ayoo, the district speaker attributed the reduction in revenue to the presidential directive because 70% percent of the revenue was generated from forest products.
Ayoo revealed that the dwindling revenue collection has affected the routine sitting by council because they can no longer meet the wages and allowances of councilors.
The Local Government Act stipulates that council should sit twice a month.
“As a council we need about Shs8m per sitting for our allowances but where is the money?” Ayoo asked.
On May 31st, 2013 Gulu district council approved a budget of Shs29b for the 2023/2024 financial year.
Christopher Opiyo Ateker, the district chairperson has acknowledged the financial crisis of revenue collection in the district whom he attributes to both factors of creation of the City and the current ban of commercial charcoal business in the region.
Ateker admitted that the council has only sat twice in 2023 instead of six times due to lack of funds, which hindered them from discussing and resolving critical issues affecting service delivery.
New revenue sources
He, however, revealed that the district executive committee has already proposed for new taxes to be approved by the council in the next sitting to widen the revenue base of the district.
One of the proposed revenue bases is to impose a tax of 2,000 shillings for 20 liters of milk, 10,000 shillings for each cattle being sold and brought for fattening. The district also plans to tax mobile traders, but the rate is yet to be determined by the council in its next sitting.
“Gulu is doing poorly in local revenue but we lost our revenue base with the curving of administrative units to form the City, but we hope that the new cattle economy shall address the gaps,” Ateker observed.
Expecting to collect over shs550m
The district veterinary officer Alfred Opiyo revealed that the annual milk production in Gulu stands at 301,084 liters.
The veterinary records indicate that Gulu has 54,363 herds of cattle. However of the total population representing 43% belong to migrant cattle keepers known as Balalo who have settled in the district recently.
With the proposed taxes, the district can potentially generate shs543m from the herds of cattle per annum, while tax from milk collection is projected at shs30m per annum once the council approves.
Opiyo said the slaughter of cattle, which stands at 782 per month, is yet another big opportunity for the district to tap revenue.
Statistics from the veterinary department shows that the average per capita consumption of meat stands at 9 kilograms, which is lower than the 40 kilograms per capita as recommended by World Health Organisation.
Opiyo suggested that even though meat consumption by households in Acholi is low, the slaughter of animals could be increased to serve the ready market in South Sudan.
He also urged the locals to optimally utilize the idle land for livestock farming, saying it had higher chances for growth.
“Given the available resources we have, the labour, the market, the dairy industry in the region is well proven, it’s the new economy which isn’t much affected by climate change that we should tell our people but the government needs to establish an industry here,” Opiyo explained.
He revealed that the district has already enrolled 7 livestock cooperative farmers’ groups to attract more dairy farmers into milk production, while 8 milk collection centers have been established within the district for supporting the new economy of animal production.
Balington Angwec Olweny, the councilor representing Bungatira Sub County to Gulu district local government is hopeful that the cattle economy will help close the current financial shortfalls in local revenue mobilization for enhancing the service delivery within the district.
Dairy production growing
The Executive Director Northern Uganda Dairy Development Authority Dr. Herbert Mutumba, noted that the government has already established a milk collection centre in Gulu with a capacity to receive 2,000 litres of milk production per day which will help increase milk production in the region to above the current 20 million litres annually.
He however appealed to the livestock farmers in the region to prioritize milk production, noting that milk production constitutes 50% of gross domestic product in the livestock sector.
The 2021/2022 National Milk Agency annual performance report, puts the milk industry as one of the main drivers for structural transformation and development of the economy.
The same report indicates that milk collection centres increased to 547 from 475 with a total estimated capacity of 2.3 million in 2021/ 2022 and 2.21 million litres in 2020/2021 respectively.
The rise in national quantity of milk is attributed to significant rise in production of milk in the Northeast and Midwest primarily due to the adoption of improved high-yielding breeds.
Dairy exports in the year 2021/ 2022 increased to US$ 102.6 million compared to US$92.4 million in the financial year 2020/2021.
Partners advocating for district merger
Dr. Arthur Bainomugisha, the Executive Director Advocates Collation for Development and Environment (ACODE), argued that the low revenue collected by local governments is attributed to the creation of many administrative units.
Dr. Bainomugisha said the central government cannot also adequately finance the administration of the new administrative units because they are many.
Addressing the councilors recently and technical staff of Gulu District at the two-day induction training, Dr Bainomugisha disclosed that the development partners are in talks with the central government for the merger of the District administrative units for effective service delivery.
“The merger of the Districts will give the District local government full power of decentralization the Country has adopted decades ago, without which, the local governments will ever remain a burden to the Country’s economy which funds their budget by over 90%,” Dr. Bainomugisha observed.
