The Moroto Municipal Council is seeking five billion shillings to fund the construction of its headquarters at the public mayor’s garden. Since it started in 1974, the municipal council has had trouble finding enough office space for both the political leaders and the technical departments.
The municipality currently operates at Moroto district headquarters, with the public library acting as a council hall. As the town moves toward becoming a city in 2025, officials are making plans to move the town hall to its own two acres of land, where the offices and the mayor’s gardens will be located.
The Moroto municipal town clerk told URN that they are facing a crisis of office space and they are engaging the council to start lobbying funds for the construction of their own offices. Okurut says limited office space has affected their day-to-day duties and the people who come to seek services.
He also blamed the crisis in service delivery on the low staffing levels, which stand at 42 percent. Okurut says they need about five billion shillings to set up enough office space for both political leadership and technical departments, including the council hall.
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According to him, they have already drawn structural plans and the construction is projected to commence in the next financial year 2023–2024. Okurut said that some of the money could come from local taxes, but he asked the central government to help them start the project by giving them some of the money meant for preparing the city.
Mohammed Ismail, the Mayor of Moroto municipality, said they have bigger plans for infrastructure development, but their efforts have always been frustrated by a lack of funds to make them fulfil their dream. Mohammed says that although they are making high preparations for city status, the council is still crippled by limited resources to organise the municipality towards a better outlook.
He says that the municipality is disadvantaged when it comes to resource allocation, adding that there is a need for affirmative action to achieve infrastructural development. He also said that it’s hard to keep developers in the municipality in line because so many of them build structures without doing the right planning.
The Moroto municipality occupies 5 square kilometres with two divisions, four wards, and a population of 118,500. It has been earmarked for elevation to city status in 2025.
