Minister appoints members to Local Government Finance Commission
The Commission was established under Article 194 of the 1995 Constitution and has been operational since February 1995 following an official launch by Bidandi Ssali, the then Minister of Local Government.
The Cabinet has appointed a 7 member Local Government Finance Commission (LGFC) and tasked it with the responsibility of advising the president on central and local governments’ issues of fiscal decentralization.
The Minister for Local Government Raphael Magyezi explains that some of the commission’s responsibility will include sharing the budget negotiations between the local governments represented by the associations, various ministries, departments and agencies of government.
He noted that the commission has not been in existence for a year due to challenges in seeking guidance from urban and district authorities. He added that there’s always a need to promote balance while making appointments from different parts of the country.
“Governor Authorities have one member then the districts have 3 members, making it 4 from the district, and the minister can also appoint 3 people making it 7 members of the commission,” the minister explained.
“You can imagine people being nominated from different angles and yet you have to balance issues of the region, of representation, and make sure that at least are qualified and competent in financing and accounting. It’s not easy, but good we now have a commission,” he added.
Reiterating the works of the previous 6th commission, Magyezi said that it carried out detailed research on issues affecting local government financing and delivered proposals to the president.
He, therefore, called upon the newly appointed commission to prioritize the same issue of financing the local governments.
“I would expect the 7th local government commission to prioritize the issue of financing the local governments from two aspects. One is from the grants, where the commission is going to be tasked to study the national budget and look at funds within the sector ministries. They should identify funds which should be decentralized to the local governments,” he explained.
According to Magyezi, he expects the commission to prioritise the local revenue of the local government, noting that in some districts, their revenues move up hence the need for digitalization to improve revenue collections.
Local Government Finance Commission is an autonomous arm of government responsible for advising central and local governments on issues of fiscal decentralization.
The Commission was established under Article 194 of the 1995 Constitution and has been operational since February 1995 following an official launch by Bidandi Ssali, the then Minister of Local Government.
