Yumbe District Leaders Warn of Budget Shortfalls and Funding Delays

Leaders in West Nile have called for increased and timely financial allocations to local governments, noting that excessive spending on salaries is limiting funds for essential services like education, health, and roads. Yumbe District Chairperson Asiku Abdumutwalib Mahmoud stated that the district's 2026/27 budget of 72.3 billion shillings allocates only about 8 billion shillings to development programmes. This is after 35 billion shillings is committed to wages.

The leaders also raised concerns regarding weak local revenue mobilization, urging the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to address these funding gaps. They called for these issues to be incorporated into the budget consultations for the 2027/28 financial year.