By Obbo Yusuf.
Iganga municipality has achieved a remarkable milestone in local revenue collection, reaching 800 million shillings, thanks to the implementation of a new digital revenue management system. Mayor Bamu Lulenzi expressed his excitement over the Integrated Revenue Administration System (IRAS), which he credits for significantly boosting the municipality’s financial performance.
The government began automating revenue management across local governments in 2017, introducing IRAS as part of this initiative. This affordable and accessible system is both web and mobile-enabled, designed to transform tax collection into a customer-centric service. So far, IRAS has been successfully deployed in 98 districts, 21 municipalities, and 9 cities, with an investment of 20.07 billion shillings.
In Iganga, the system was launched on November 29, 2022, with the support of local government finance officials and YOYA Technologies Ltd., which provided training, mass registration, e-evaluation, and technical support. The introduction of 20 point-of-sale machines has also streamlined the payment process.
Mayor Lulenzi noted that the system has alleviated the headaches traditionally associated with revenue collection. “Business owners are now clearly aware of their annual fees based on their street, area of operation, business size, and category,” he explained. The municipal enforcement team now focuses on identifying defaulters, and the community has responded positively to the new system.
Previously, Iganga’s revenue collection ranged between 120 million and 200 million shillings per financial year. With the adoption of IRAS, that figure has soared to 800 million, and the mayor is optimistic about reaching the 1 billion mark in the next financial year. “This progress will enable us to provide better services to our residents,” he stated.
Despite this success, Mayor Lulenzi acknowledged ongoing challenges in service delivery, including inadequate street lighting, poor road conditions, and sanitation issues. He attributed these problems to a lack of unity among local leaders and political interference in development programs.
The mayor urged citizens to embrace the new system and refrain from paying bribes to enforcement teams, emphasizing the importance of transparency in the revenue collection process.
