Muzaidi Khemis, the mayor of Central Division, defended the increase, explaining that the new charges were part of a local revenue enhancement plan approved by the council. He also assured that they plan to engage and sensitize drivers about the changes.
Since its establishment in July 2020, Arua City has struggled with political polarization along political, tribal, and religious lines, which has stunted its growth and development potential.
Grace Candiru, a former Ombokoro and Ambeko councilor explains that some unscrupulous individuals have taken advantage of the idle facilities to vandalize Items like metallic Latrine doors and solar panels.
In the lawsuit filed at the Civil Division of the High Court in Kampala, Oguzu explains that the acts and omissions of the Arua City Physical Planning Committee and National Physical Planning Board have infringed on his constitutional right to carry lawful business.
On Thursday, the disgruntled residents, carrying placards, stormed the office of the Arua Resident City Commissioner. They threatened to hand over the PDM files to Matua for implementation in the affected ward and accused him of undermining the NRM party's support within the central division while mobilizing support for the opposition.
According to the leaders most Ugandans have developed a mindset that funds channeled through government programmes like GROW, Parish Development Model (PDM) and others are political gifts for voting or free money hence defaulting the guidelines.
Statistics obtained from police indicates that Arua city recorded 418 domestic violence cases, 112 defilement case, 3 indecent assault cases and 10 rape cases last year.
According to the approved budget, the Education sector took the biggest share of the budget at 25.5 representing 51.7% followed by Health with an allocation of 5.67 billion shillings representing 11.5%.
Dan Ssekiboobo, the senior presidential advisor in charge of research, challenged the RDCs to collaborate with district leaders regardless of their political affiliations to effectively serve the people.
Under the initiative, the vendors will be given a six-month grace period to settle in the main market to enable them raise enough money before they start paying monthly fees for the stalls.
The new physical development plan for the period 2022-2040 was launched in September 2023. It was developed by the Global Green Growth Institute and Mott MacDonald with support from the European Union under “Greening Uganda’s Urbanization and Industrialization project.
According to the audit report, Yumbe District Local Government has 7 unutilised projects, followed by Moyo District Local Government with 6 Madi-Okollo District Local Government with 2 projects and Obongi District Local Government with one unutilized project.
The trouble began when Akello, during a meeting with Arua City leaders, discovered that Findru had issued a development permit to the American Construction Towers (ACT) company to construct a telecom mast on land belonging to the Uganda Land Commission behind the Arua Public Library in Hospital Cell, Bazar Ward, Arua City Central Division.
Nicholas Ogwang, the Arua Chief Administrative Officer CAO told the committee members that they are stuck within the jurisdiction of the city and cannot move to the proposed new location for the district headquarter at Odumi in Vurra sub-county without the release of startup funds required for the construction of new administrative offices.
Raul Osuga, the Speaker of Arua Central Division and councilor for Awindiri Ward criticized Akello for not taking action against the town agent of Bazar Ward in Central Division, identified as Adiru.
Legal consultant Fred Abibo, who drafted the by-law, revealed that investigations showed these girls were primarily recruited from neighboring districts such as Terego, Maracha, and Yumbe, with false promises of employment that later led to their exploitation.
Bosco Koloa, a resident of Komite Ward, stated that it has been nearly three years since his land registration process began, despite having fulfilled all the necessary requirements and paying the fees.
According to the World Bank out of the $ 5.4 billion total investments in the programme, only 30 percent of the funds have been absorbed by local governments. The report further indicates that, at least 300 billion Ugandan shillings is on average returned to the Consolidated Fund at the end of the financial year.
Mahfouz Baguma, the Arua city malaria focal point person explains that under the initiative, they intend to establish mini laboratory in some selected schools within the city to educate the learners on science of female anopheles mosquitos that causes malaria. He further notes that, the learners are expected to apply the skills they would have acquired from school to implement malaria prevention in their homes or neighborhood.
