Fort Portal City grappling with Shs 10bln debt

FORT PORTAL – Fort Portal City is currently struggling to pay a debt of about Shs 10 billion as compensation for damages arising out of about 60 court cases the institution has lost over the past years.

According to the acting city clerk, Richard Ndora Kagaba, there was little or no budgetary provision for the court cases in the current financial year yet the complainants continue to press for compensation.

“We are struggling to pay this money and this suffocates service delivery because the funds that were meant for other activities like rehabilitation of roads, and garbage collection among others are being diverted towards settling some of these cases,” Kagaba said.

He added that they are threatened with some attachments like vehicles and other official assets.

Kagaba revealed that last year, the truck for garbage collection was impounded by court bailiffs and they had to pay Shs 37 million to recover it.

The Fort Portal City mayor, Edison Ruyoga Asaba said they are under pressure to pay all the people that sued the institution and won court cases, which he said slows down service delivery.

He said they urgently need to start paying the money but they are stuck because they have nowhere to get it from.

“As a new city, we are facing a lot of challenges. As council, we have resolved to sell our 198 hectares of land in Mwenge, Kyenjojo district to settle some cases and we shall also sell some other small land around,” he said.

He however noted that selling off some of their properties will affect their local revenue base.

Fort Portal Municipality was elevated to city status in 2020 but since then it is still struggling to deliver services because of a lack of funds.

Most of these cases were registered when Fort Portal was still a municipality.

Asaba blamed many court cases on his predecessor who suspended paying claimants resulting in accumulated costs.

“Some court cases are seven years old but our predecessors failed to clear them and this was deliberate such that when we come to office, we face the same challenges,” Asaba said.

He added: “We had a law firm that has been working with us for more than 10 years but when the government changed the law and instead directed us to drop the law firm and use the Solicitor General, the law firm was not compensated. They took us to court and are now demanding more than Shs 2 billion. We lost another case three years ago and court awarded the winner Shs 1.4 million. However, that money has since accumulated to Shs 14 million due to delayed payment.”

Leaders appealed to the Ministry of Local Government and the Attorney General to come to their rescue.

The former Fort Portal City mayor, Rev Kintu Willy Muhanga, said in his five-year tenure, the city registered only one case in court, which it even won.

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