March 13, 2025
By Stanley Ebele
Residents of West Division in Kotido Municipality say their participation in the budgeting process has yielded less in the past three years as officials often omit their views in the final budget.
Romano Meri, a member of Kanawat Cell and Youth Chairperson in Kanawat Parish Development Committee, told Etoil A Karamoja that they have been asking for access roads, piped water and cereal storage facilities during the budgetary meetings but nothing comes out.
Logwero Jonathan Lolol, the parish Chief Um -Um in West Division also said the community has actively participated in budget discussions but their views are not prioritized by the municipal authorities.
Although the budgeting cycle is supposed to start from the villages to feed the municipal or district budgets for the allocation of resources, most of the ideas from the communities end up in papers.
Julius Okia, the District Planner Kotido underscored importance of community involvement in the planning process, known as the budget cycle which starts from July to December through budget conferences.
He, however, notes that the final budget is informed by the key priority activities from stakeholders involved in the budgeting process across the district.
Currently, the budget for 2025/2026 financial year is in its first draft using first indicative figures from Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development before it goes through review by the heads of departments, and the technical planning committee where the annual work plans are drafted and presented to council for approval.
After further scrutiny and adjustments by local government council and its relevant committees, the budget is then approved by a council sitting between May and June for subsequent Financial Year.
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