Uganda: Tororo municipality to sue district over UGX284m
Council has threatened to sue the district authorities over non-remittance of UGX284m in ground rent. In a terse communication by the town mayor, Jack Ogola, to the chief administrative officer, Flex Osoku, the council accused the district of failure to pay ground rent and loyalties since 2001.
Ogola said the arrears of ground rent could be traced way back in 1999. The mayor further noted that when Tororo Cement factory was privatised in 2001, the district failed to remit its due share of royalties totalling UGX154 521,000.
Records further show that loyalties totalled UGX22m, while ground rent was UGX300,000 in the 2006/07 financial year.
In 2007/08, a total of UGX43m was not remitted. The mayor said the non-remittance of the monies had hampered the town’s operations.
Efforts to intervene in the impasse by the Ministry of Finance have not yielded any fruit. The chief administrative officer blamed the town council officials of using a conservative approach.
“Apart from seeking redress from institutions in Kampala , the town council has never sought audience with the district authorities on the matter, save for correspondences,” said Osoku.
He said it was very unfair for the town council to direct its hostility on the sitting CAO when it was his predecessor who mismanaged the district funds.
Osoku disclosed that Tororo district had inherited UGX1.5b in debts. “Tororo features in the ministerial policy statement with a debt of over UGX1.5b. We are desperately seeking a hand of help from the central government,” Osoku said.
He said the district had, this financial year, decided to privatise its housing estates to raise about UGX1.2b to settle some of the debts.
Published under Cement News
