Lamwo district council failed to convene on Wednesday for the approval of the budget estimates for the financial year 2022/2023 because both the speaker and his deputy didn’t show up.
On Tuesday,Councilors had showed up at the district headquarters at the invitation of the Speaker, James Ochola to consider the budget estimates. They waited for the speaker and his deputy in vain.
The Lamwo LC V Chairperson Sisto Oyet later called the councilors at 4 pm and informed them that the speaker had told him on the phone that he had taken medicine for people displaced by the Dinka in Nyimur sub-county.
Nancy Achora, the Lamwo Woman MP commended the different committees, technical teams, and heads of departments for endeavoring to scrutinize the budget, but expressed her disappointment with the speaker and his deputy for not showing up to approve the estimates.
Achora says that the excuse given by the speaker through the LC V chairperson for his absence wasn’t plausible enough, saying it would be proper to dissolve the council as they don’t seem prepared to serve their electorate.
Achora says the speaker should write a letter explaining why the district failed to pass the budget estimated as expected. She called on the Resident District Commissioner to report the matter to the office of the president so that the Permanent Secretary and the office of the presidency know that the Lamwo district council is not willing to work for the next four years.
Justine Odur, the secretary of the Financial, Planning, and Administration, says that the district took a long time to approve the budget estimates because of the long time they spent scrutinizing it. Odur says the district will now have to request more time from the ministry of local government to approve the budget.
Achora says the failure to pass the budget was not a problem of the speaker, but how things are handled in the district. Ochola says the budget scrutiny ended very late on Tuesday, May 31st, adding that by Wednesday morning, the budget had many things that needed corrections.
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