GULU - The Education and Sports department has taken the lion’s share of the 2025/2026 financial year’s proposed budget for Gulu district.
The department has been allocated sh10.399 billion out of the total draft budget of sh29.583 billion, followed by the health sector and Administration with sh6.273 billion and sh5.075 billion, respectively.
Water, internal audit, trade industry and local development are among the sectors that have received meagre funding with sh419.98 million, sh73.078 million and sh145.93 million, respectively.
The other allocations are community-based services, accounting for sh862.20 million; council and statutory bodies (sh789.18m), finance (sh532.48m), Natural Resource Management (sh516.41m) and planning unit, accounting for sh194.25 million.
Vicky Atim the Secretary for Administration, Planning, Finance and Investment in Gulu District, who also doubles as Vice-chairperson LCV said that they gave more allocation to the education sector because they have a lot of educational needs including elevating some infrastructures in schools, for example constructing two classroom blocks at Patiko Seed Secondary School, a project estimated to cost up to sh2.5 billion.
Atim, who is also the female Councilor V representing Awach and Paibona sub-counties, respectively, revealed that the 2025/2026 financial year draft budget has drastically reduced from sh34.7b to sh29.5b in the current FY 2024/2025.
Samuel Baker Mwaka, the Councilor V representing Patiko Sub-county, decried the reduction of the budget, saying it will affect some key areas of service delivery to the immediate residents in the district.
Similarly, Irene Lamwaka Aziz, the Female Councilor V representing Palaro Sub-county, said that she is shocked that the next financial year budget has dropped in comparison to the latter.
Geoffrey Ocen Lakwonyero, the Councilor V representing Persons with Disabilities (PDWs), said that he is not happy with the reduction of the budget, especially in the department of CBS where PWDs fall because they need more funds to help support PWDs in the district.
The budget, passed under the theme, “Full Monetization of Gulu District’s Economy through Commercial Agriculture, Industrialization, Expanding and Broadening Services, Digital Transformation and Market Access”, is being reviewed by the budget committee before final passing.