Mbale City suspends collection of local revenue over alleged corruption

admin | January 4, 2024

By Yahudu Kitunzi

Mbale City Council has suspended the collection of fees from street parking, loading, offloading and advertising fees over alleged corruption among officials.

James Kutosi, the Mbale City spokesperson says the decision followed the continued failure by contractors to remit monthly revenue collections to the council account.

In 2021, the city embarked on implementation of digital revenue collection to minimize human contact and increase revenue.

However, the authorities now say the Integrated Revenue Administration System (IRAS) is being manipulated by some officials.

This is the second time Mbale City Council is suspending the collection of revenue over corruption and other related irregularities.

Last year, they suspended the collection of street parking fees over the continued fights between its contractors.

The companies including Nalu Tours and Travels Limited, and Central Investments Agency Limited fought for a contract to collect the revenues on behalf of Mbale City.

The RCC estimated that Mbale city lost Shs2.1 billion in the financial year 2022-2023, a claim that Mr Namugali, the city mayor, agreed with.

In 2021, the former Minister of State for Economic Monitoring in the Office of the President, Peter Ogwang ordered for a forensic audit on the management of local revenue sources in Mbale city for the last four financial years.

The directive followed accusations of mismanagement of local revenue in Mbale central market and under declaration of revenue.