Museveni Orders Pay Rise for Local Government Leaders Amid Service Delivery Concerns

Political leaders in Uganda’s local governments are set to receive a pay rise starting in the 2026/27 financial year following a directive from President Yoweri Museveni. The announcement came from the Minister of Local Government, Hon. Raphael Magyezi, during a statement to Parliament on Tuesday, 9 September 2025.

Magyezi said the decision responds to a petition from the Uganda Local Governments Association and the Urban Authorities Association of Uganda, which highlighted service delivery challenges. “Appropriate facilitation and pay of duty bearers is a statutory obligation. Unfortunately, local government political leaders across the board are poorly paid and facilitated. We commend them for their patience, selfless service, and sacrifice to the country,” Magyezi told Parliament.

The minister revealed plans to present a Cabinet Paper recommending remuneration for all political leaders, starting with LC I chairpersons up to district and city level leaders. Other interventions include induction of councillors next fiscal year at Shs30 billion, procurement of vehicles for district chairpersons and mayors, recruitment to fill critical vacancies, road equipment for cities and municipalities, and increased physical planning grants to curb unplanned urbanisation.

Magyezi confirmed that LC I and II elections will be harmonised with the 2026 general elections and that subventions to ULGA and UAAU will double to Shs600 million. He dismissed claims that local government service delivery is deteriorating, noting that annual assessments by the Office of the Prime Minister show improvement. “The situation is promising, and the task ahead is to deepen decentralisation as a key policy of government for service delivery and wealth creation,” he argued.

However, Speaker Anita Among disagreed, pointing out that reality on the ground tells a different story. “In most districts you visit, classes are empty, there are no teachers, hospitals lack medics, and roads are in poor condition because they lack equipment,” she said.

Other lawmakers joined the debate, raising concerns about staffing and funding gaps. Hon. Gilbert Olanya highlighted the poor state of road equipment, saying much of it is broken or underutilised. Hon. Godfrey Onzima reported critical shortages in health and education staffing, including cases where only two midwives serve entire health units. Hon. Paul Omara expressed concern over dwindling local government funding, which has dropped from 15 percent of the national budget to just seven percent.

The Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Hon. Henry Musasizi, defended revenue centralisation, explaining that all local government revenues must go to the consolidated fund and are collected on behalf of the government.

Closing the debate, Magyezi cited chronic underfunding as the root problem. “At some point, 34 percent of the national budget went to local governments. We went down to 26, then 18, now nine percent. You cannot decentralise 80 percent of responsibilities and give only 10 percent,” he said, urging that the budget share be progressively increased. The Speaker added that if funding were raised, many service delivery challenges could be resolved.

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