Adjumani district council approves shs49.3 billion budget for fiscal year 2025/26

Adjumani | The Adjumani district local government has approved a budget of shs49,372,995,000 for the fiscal year 2025/26, representing a slight decrease from the current year’s budget of shs50,599,454,000.

District officials attributed the decrease to a drop in local revenue collection and the successful completion of several major projects, including the Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project (DRDIP), which had significantly increased the district’s spending in recent years.

During the district council meeting, district chairman Anyama Ben emphasized the importance of prudent financial management and prioritizing essential services within available resources.

“While we are working with a slightly lower budget this year, our focus remains on efficient service delivery and sustainability of completed projects,” chairperson Anyama said.

The completion of the DRDIP project, which had funded key infrastructure developments across health, education, and road sectors, has also contributed to the reduction in the new budget allocation.

The district speaker, Olanya Jacob, stated that the budget decline was due to low revenue collection, which is a major source of income. Olanya therefore urged the office of the chief administrative officer to organise a brainstorming meeting about revenue collection.

“Mr. CAO called for a brainstorming session for all stakeholders in the district to find out the reasons for the continuous downfall of revenue. We need to find whether it is a lack of viable source of revenue or it is because of inadequate capacity for collecting the revenue or is it lack of enforcement?

“So, I request you to have that meeting immediately. Otherwise, honorable counselors very soon we may not sit like this,” said speaker Olanya.

The budget for the financial year 2025/26 will prioritize sectors such as education, health, water and sanitation, and agricultural development.

The district also plans to strengthen local revenue mobilization efforts by building the capacity of the councilor towards revenue mobilization skills in order to sensitize the general public to bridge funding gaps and reduce dependence on external support.

Despite the decrease, district leaders are confident that proper planning and fiscal discipline will ensure continued progress on Adjumani’s development agenda.