Uganda's budget transparency score is 59 according to the Open Budget Survey 2023, but perform poorly on public involvement, at 15 on a scale of zero to 100.
Following the unveiling of the government strategic plan for next financial year, it is now embarking on countrywide consultations about the 2025/26 National Budget.
The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development on Monday commences Local Government regional consultative workshops for the next three weeks, following what it calls a successfully concluded National Budget Conference earlier in the week.
This is part of government budget transparency policy and is in line with the law.
The teams shall be in Lira, Jinja, Mbale, Masaka, Hoima, Fort Portal, Mbarara, Kabale, Arua, Gulu and Kampala.
According to the Ministry, discussions with the local leaders will focus on the fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV) strategic direction and the tenfold growth strategy.
This gives the local governments a chance to give their input into the road towards the 15-year road to grow the economy 10 times to 500 billion dollars.
The consultations will also focus on local economic growth, service delivery standards, budgeting for improved results and budget implementation and service delivery issues in local governments among others.
The ministry urges all local government leaders to be part of these consultations on the next budget to ensure that their areas are not left behind.
Both Ministry political and technical leadership are taking lead in these consultations across the country, according to the program.
The Ministry's launch of the National Budget Strategy for the year 2025/26 signals the beginning of the budget process, but also, the regional consultative workshops enhance the budget transparency strategy.
"These consultations will also give the platform for a feedback on the issues that were discussed at the last consultative workshops (2024/25), discuss and receive inputs into the government's National Budget Strategy 2025/26 as well as the priorities and challenges to the decentralised service delivery," shows the programme in part.
Uganda had been hailed as one of the countries with fair levels of budget transparency, but challenges remain, though this does not necessarily mean fair levels of accountability or discipline.
According to the Budget Transparency Index by open source, government provides access to a range of budget documents, including the national budget, annual financial statements, and quarterly expenditure reports.
However, the degree of transparency is at times limited, with some documents not always made public in a timely manner or with sufficient detail.
Uganda's budget transparency score is 59 according to the Open Budget Survey 2023, but perform poorly on public involvement, at 15 on a score of zero to 100.
