Why Mbale City Is Struggling Six Years After Attaining City Status

By Skika Repoprter

Six years after being elevated to city status, Mbale City finds itself grappling with a combination of financial, administrative and planning challenges that have slowed the pace of development and frustrated residents’ expectations.

When the government granted Mbale city status in 2020, many residents expected better roads, improved services and increased investment. Instead, city leaders say the transition brought greater responsibilities without adequate resources to support them.

Expansion Without Matching Funding

One of the biggest challenges facing Mbale is the mismatch between its expanded geographical size and the funding it receives from the central government.

Following elevation, the city absorbed seven sub-counties and two town councils, significantly increasing the area under its administration. This expansion stretched the city’s responsibilities in road maintenance, health services, education and urban planning.

However, according to city officials, development funding did not increase proportionately. While Mbale’s road network expanded from about 150 kilometres during municipality status to more than 450 kilometres today, annual road maintenance funding has remained largely unchanged.

As a result, the city is struggling to maintain existing infrastructure while also extending services to newly incorporated areas.

Rising Administrative Costs

Although Mbale’s annual budget has grown from about Shs26 billion as a municipality to more than Shs50 billion, officials say much of the increase is consumed by wages and recurrent expenditure.

The creation of new administrative units, recruitment of staff and operational costs associated with city status have absorbed a significant share of available resources, leaving limited funds for development projects.

This has created a situation where the city carries the responsibilities of a larger urban centre but lacks sufficient investment in roads, drainage systems, schools and health facilities.

Weak Urban Planning

Stakeholders also point to poor physical planning as a major factor behind the city’s struggles.

Rapid urban growth has outpaced planning efforts, leading to unregulated development in some areas. Experts say the city lacks key technical personnel, including a substantive senior physical planner and a certified city engineer, making it difficult to effectively manage expansion.

Without adequate planning, the city faces challenges related to land use, drainage, road development and environmental management.

Lack of a Dedicated Legal Framework

Another challenge is the absence of a law specifically designed to govern cities.

Mbale continues to operate under the Local Government Act, legislation originally designed to cater for districts and municipalities. City officials argue that urban centres face unique challenges such as traffic congestion, parking management, waste disposal and complex infrastructure planning that require specialised regulations.

The lack of a tailored legal framework has limited the city’s ability to respond effectively to emerging urban challenges.

Limited Local Autonomy

Local leaders also blame increasing centralisation of decision-making for slowing development.

Although city status was intended to deepen decentralisation, officials argue that financial control remains concentrated at the centre, limiting the city’s flexibility in prioritising local development needs.

This dependence on conditional grants means that much of the city’s spending is predetermined, leaving little room for locally driven initiatives.

Revenue Challenges

While local revenue collection has improved significantly due to digital systems, the city still generates only a small portion of its budget internally.

The majority of funding continues to come from central government transfers. Some stakeholders argue that weak revenue management and inadequate investment in income-generating assets have limited the city’s financial independence.

Without stronger local revenue sources, Mbale remains vulnerable to funding shortfalls and delays in implementing development projects.

Unclear Transition Framework

Critics also argue that the process of transforming Mbale from a municipality into a city lacked a comprehensive implementation plan.

According to some leaders, areas were incorporated into the city without sufficient consultation or detailed planning on how services would be extended. This has contributed to disparities in service delivery and increased pressure on existing infrastructure.

The Way Forward

Despite these challenges, city officials point to improvements in local revenue collection and growing budgets as signs of progress. However, many stakeholders agree that Mbale’s development ambitions will remain difficult to achieve unless government increases development funding, fills key technical positions, strengthens urban planning and grants cities greater financial autonomy.

For now, Mbale’s experience highlights a broader challenge facing Uganda’s new cities: achieving the promises of urbanisation requires not only a change in status but also adequate funding, planning and institutional support.