Soroti — Mounds of garbage, silted drainages, a stockpile of debts, poor delivery of essential services and unfinished work plans. This is what Soroti Municipal Council authorities are grappling with.

The council has been choked by a huge debt for the last two years and can no longer operate effectively, calling into question the policy of decentralisation which is intended to take services near to the people.

"The (financial) problems are immense. The council is in a dilemma. The debtors are desperate for their money," Mr Fred Okello, the chairperson Soroti District finance committee.

"But you can not entirely blame the current regime (at the municipality) for the mess," Mr Patrick Oriokot, the Municipality Speaker said. "Some of the problems we are experiencing were inherited from the past leadership."

A cross section of authorities in the town has expressed concern over the chaos and is calling for an immediate bail out from the central government.

The municipality's financial woes are compounded by low revenue collections due to a thin revenue base. The small grants from the central government cannot help to offset the accumulated debts estimated at Shs300 million.

Provision of vital services in the town has been greatly hampered. "The debts have kept accumulating and I blame it all on the Mayor and his executive (committee) that has failed to take whatever technical advise it is given on how to get the town out of the trouble," Jovans Odikhor, a municipal councillor said.

With over 30 civil cases to battle in court and a number of court fines to clear, Soroti municipality might have no option but to call for the President to take over the town.

"It is provided for in the law that any local government that has failed to manage its finances can apply for the President to take over," Mr Honorat Okello, Soroti Municipality youth councillor said. And now with the hefty debts and several court penalties to settle, Soroti Municipality is seeking to clear part of its debt through the sale of some public assets.

However, the idea mooted last year by the Executive Committee has been rejected by other members of the council and a cross section of the public.

And due to the biting financial predicament the municipality is faced with, delivery of public services such as disposal of garbage and cleaning up of the drainages in the town has been crippled.

The deputy Mayor, Mr Richard Okello, recently submitted a motion seeking to persuade the council to endorse the sale of public assets like Soroti Municipal Secondary School to a private developer.

"The council has failed to run the affairs of this asset and to this effect is indebted to a tune of Shs16 million," Mr Okello said. But in a separate interview Soroti Mayor, Alfred Martin Aruo said the municipality does not intend to sell any public land to private developers.

"The land in question has been settled on by squatters for quite a period of time and there is need for re-planning of the land," he said. "It's not true that we are selling the land."

The plans to sell off municipality assets as a means of settling debts have sparked off a fray of criticism from taxpayers who have accused the municipal authorities for mismanagement of the town's finances.

As a result, the municipality authorities have been castigated for failing to come up with viable means of salvaging the council from drowning further in the financial impasse.