New Lira City Clerk assumes office, promises to boost revenue collection

Lira, (UG):- The new substantive Lira City Clerk Mr Vincent Okurut has settled into office with a vow to mobilise Local revenue collection in Lira City.

Okurut’s placement came following a vacancy created by the sudden death of the then City Clerk, Theophilus Tibihika who passed on in a road accident.

After the incident, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Local Government appointed the Lira City West Division Clerk John Stephen Kasada to caretake the office for 30 days before Okurut was posted as the substantive City Clerk for the northern Uganda city.

During the handover ceremony at Lira City headquarters on Thursday, Mr Okurut said he will do his best to see that they uplift the level of service delivery in the city.

“Let’s work together to ensure that this 6 billion we have budgeted this financial year will be collected. When we achieve that, we will be able to offer services to the population in Lira City,” he said.

“My recent examination of the performance of cities still indicates that one of our biggest challenges is our ability to mobilize revenue. The revenue sources are there, but a number of us hardly collect 50% of what is assessed,” added Okurut.

Okurut’s promises came at a time when Lira City had projected to collect over Shs 6 billion from Local revenue.

John Stephen Kasada, the outgoing caretaker of the City Clerk’s office underscored Lira City’s challenges, including court cases, understaffing, and pending sharing of assets of Lira city and Lira District among others, that the new city clerk can solve.

The Mayor Lira City, Mr Sam Atul On behalf of the political team welcomed Okurut and pledged to offer him all the support he needed to execute his duty.

“What we can promise you is that Lira City offers the best working environment for any technical office and when you mention the issue of the revenue, you hit the heart of the matter,” Atul said.

He added; “We have a revenue target of 6.4 billion local revenue, which we believe is achievable this financial year and which is going to translate directly to one unique product, which is the procurement of a grader to help us work on our roads. Let us keep focused on that target and we make sure that we achieve.”