SEATINI, Oxfam partner with Gulu City to launch revenue collection enhancement program

SEATINI Uganda and Oxfam Uganda have partnered with authorities from Gulu City to launch a program aimed at enhancement of local revenue.

Named the Local Revenue Enhancement Plan (LREP), the program is aimed at guiding local revenue collection and mobilization for the city for the next five years.

The program encompasses annual reviews meant to identify challenges encountered, lessons and best possible practices.

Speaking at the launch of the program, the Gulu City mayor, Alfred Okwonga said the program was developed through a highly consultative process in a bid to transform how the city authorities generate local revenue, funds development and how to grow the city in a responsible way.

He said that with such a program, Gulu is on the right path to becoming a model city in Uganda.

The SEATINI Uganda Executive Director, Jane Nalunga emphasized the need for monitoring and ensuring that the revenue targets set within the plan are achieved at the end of the five years.

Francis  Odokorach , the Country Director at Oxfam  Uganda emphasized the  need to  reduce extreme inequalities among the population.

‘‘Following the community and policy dialogues held in Gulu City, it was discovered that there was need for the Civil Society Organisations  to support political leaders, technocrats and the new city administration to develop a Local Revenue Enhancement Plan to enable the city authorities responsibly and ably collect taxes from the community to fund their mandate to extend public services for the betterment of the  residents and public at large,”Odokorach said.

He said that the development of the Gulu City Revenue Enhancement Plan (LREP) is part of a project titled: “Enhancing Equitable Subnational Revenue Mobilization in Gulu and Soroti Cities’’ implemented by SEATINI and Oxfam in Uganda, in collaboration with and Advocacy for Research in Development (ARiD).

‘‘We partnered with SEATINI Uganda and the Gulu City authorities to develop the program which will transform local revenue collection for improved service delivery,” Odokorach added.

According to Geoffrey Oyoo, the Gulu City senior finance officer, to successfully implement the new program, they will digitize revenue collection in a bid to reduce leakages.