By Eye Media Reporter | July 9, 2025
Jinja City Council has come out to set the record straight following recent media reports claiming that the City returned a whopping Shs. 4.2 billion to the national Treasury. The reports, which ran in the Daily Monitor on July 7, 2025, under the headline “Concerns as Jinja City returns shs.4.2 Billions to Treasury”, have been described by the City authorities as misleading and factually inaccurate.
In a press statement dated July 8, 2025, the City Town Clerk, Ndahura Isabella, clarified that the figures reported were misrepresented and that some critical context was missing.
“The article referred to the audit of the Financial Year 2023/2024—not 2024/2025 as suggested. The audit for 2024/2025 hasn’t even started since the financial year has just ended,” the statement emphasized.
The City confirmed that indeed Shs. 4.2 billion was returned to the Consolidated Account during the Financial Year 2023/2024, but this was not due to mismanagement as some may have assumed. Instead, the return was a direct result of a countrywide recruitment freeze and payroll audit spearheaded by the Ministry of Public Service and the Office of the Auditor General. The exercise, which affected multiple government entities, meant that recruitment and certain planned expenditures could not proceed, hence the unutilized funds.
The statement also addressed allegations that Jinja City received a supplementary budget of Shs.11.7 billion but only used Shs.7.4 billion. City authorities explained that this figure was actually anticipated local revenue projected for the 2023/2024 Financial Year. Impressively, the City managed to collect Shs.8.2 billion, which was used to finance key development projects including the procurement of a motor grader, a roller, and other essential services.
The City Clerk assured the public of Jinja’s unwavering commitment to service delivery and accountability.
“We want to assure the general public that as Jinja City Council, we are fully committed to providing quality services and ensuring timely accountability of all the funds to the people that we serve,” the statement read.
As the dust settles on the controversy, Jinja City leadership is calling for calm and urging the public to seek accurate, verified information to avoid unnecessary panic or misrepresentation of facts.
Eye Media will continue to follow this story and bring you updates as they emerge.
