Museveni warns against creation of new municipalities

President Museveni has warned the Minister for Local Government against creation of too many municipalities and town councils that he said might be too many to be affordable.

“They are going to be too many and not affordable. Let the little money we have be concentrated first in maintaining security, building infrastructure(roads, railway, electricity, schools, and health centres) and not expanding administrative costs,”Museveni warned in November 28 letter to Butime.

The warning by the president comes at a time when government recently announced the creation of 162 new town council that started being operational this year, whereas others will be operational by July 1, 2020.

The development put the number of town councils in the country to 587 after 351 of them had been created in the past three years.

According to the Ministry of Local Government, 86 others will come into existence in the 2020/2021 financial year.

A few years ago, government created seven new municipalities including Buikwe, Nebbi, Kotido, Sheema, Apac, Ibanda and Bugiri.

Government recently announced it had put on halt the creation of new administrative units around the country citing budget constraints.

“As you are aware, government has created more than 364 sub-counties, 352 town councils and 10 cities have been approved. However, resources have not yet been secured for operationalization of these newly created units,” Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development said in September.

“To address this matter comprehensively, government has taken a decision that in future, creation of any new administrative units in government must have a certificate of financial implications to certify that government has the resources to finance these institutions.”