CITIZENS AWARENESS IN PUBLIC

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT WITH

THE OPEN BUDGET INITIATIVE –
THE UGANDA EXPERIENCE

Presented
By
Hon. Kabondo Tindamanyire
Chairman, Parliamentary Committee on Finance,
Planning and Economic Development
Parliament of the Republic of Uganda

International Consortium on Governmental Financial

Management (ICGFM)
Miami, Florida- USA, May 18-22, 2009
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 The case for
Citizens Participation in Public Financial
Management -
Uganda’s experience

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 The Legal Framework

 Enabling laws for the participation of citizens includes the

following;

 The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda of 1995

 The Access to information Act, 2005

 Public Finance and Accountability Act,2003

 The Budget Act,2001

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 The Institutional Framework

 This includes the key players: the Government comprising

Cabinet/the Executive; Parliament; and the Legislative arm
of Government that is mainly composed of Representatives
of the Electorate (people); and the Judiciary. The media
forms a critical link as it informs the public on the entire
budget process; and Civil Society Organizations keep
pressure on government and ensure that public priorities
are kept on the Agenda. These set the policy guidelines and
the facilitate the information flow.

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 The Institutional Framework
(Cont’d)

 The mode of conceptualization by citizens is the reflection of

how Government has set its Priorities and how they relate
to the aspirations of the people.

 The mechanism for exchange between the Government and

its citizens is reflected on how the people rate the
performance of the Government when it comes to elections
and this is an indicator of how Government Programmes
have addressed peoples desires and aspirations

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 The Prevailing Scenarios

 An enabling environment provided by democratic and good

governance practices

 The role played by the civil society organizations

 Community information initiatives are very vibrant.

 Government setting of budget priorities vis-a-vis the public

involvement. How much does the public involve itself in the
budget preparations

 How the Government allows people to discuss budget issues

on radio talk shows popularly known as EKIMEZA; and the
free media that reports on Government
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 What are Public Finances

 Public finances are resources that are at the disposal of

governments to spend on public goods and services for
the benefit of its citizens.

 The instrument by which government spends public

finances is the Budget as appropriated by Parliament .

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 The Uganda Public Finance
Spending Centers

 Central Government (Ministries and other government

agencies).

 Local Governments (decentralized governments).

 Sub-counties (administrative divisions).

 Support to NGOs under the private/public partnerships.

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 Information Dissemination
Channels

 Radio
 Television broadcast
 News papers
 Magazines
 Bulletins
 Political rallies
 Public hearings by Parliament and Commissions
 Talk shows

 House to House exchanges

 Local councils (LC I, LC II, LC III, and LC V)
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 Capacity Building of Citizens

 Promotion of literacy through Universal Primary and

Secondary Education, Adult literacy and community
programmes for both adults and the youth

 Provision of adequate reading materials

 Open dialogue between government and citizens.

 Encouragement of participation by the Local Communities

through the local community Initiative organized by the
Local Councils

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 Participation of Citizens

 In the formulation of the National Budget:

 Planning and priority derivation, the citizens are encouraged
to participate
 Approval by Parliament which is made of Peoples’
Representatives
 Implementation and execution of the National Budgets.
 Evaluation and monitoring through the media, LC meetings
and general outputs.
 Auditing and Accountability

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 Understanding the Budget

 The budget is a document which forecasts and authorizes

the annual receipts and expenditure of the state resources

 In the most general definition, budgeting is concerned with

the translation of financial resources into human purposes.

 The understanding of the public of the budget execution is

the delivery of goods and services as set out in the priorities
such as roads, hospitals, schools etc……

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 Understanding Budget (Cont’d)

 A national budget is a primary public finance management

instrument reflecting government policy, priorities, planning
and implementation processes for the delivery of public
goods and services;

 Budget deals with income and expenditure, thus combining

public expenditure plans, revenue and tax legislation

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 Budget Functions

 Reflects government stated policies and set national

priorities

 Evaluate public programmes and review the activities of

government departments

 A tool for development management and economic growth;

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 Budget Transparency

 A system of accountability and controls over government

officials, ministries and departments, setting expenditure
limits and safeguard against abuse of public funds.
Parliament is fully involved in the budgeting process (by
law)
 With the involvement of citizens in all the stages of budget
cycle, they will acquaint themselves with the spending of
public finances and appreciate the expected returns

 The information is then collaborated for accountability and

transparency
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 Direct Citizen Involvement is:
 Budgeting
- Public participation in the budgeting process, starting with
priority setting according to the regions of the country.

- Communication of the budgeting information to the

public through public hearings and getting the Citizens
input.

- Communication of Information on releases of funds for

key Government activities through the media.

- Public participation in monitoring of budget

implementation through LC’s and Radio Talk Shows

- Establishing public information desks at all central and

local government offices.

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 Auditing

 Auditor General involving the public in the Audit process by;

 Making Audit Reports easily accessible to the public.

 Educate the public about Audit Reports.

 Allow public participation in the PAC discussions of the reports

of the Auditor General.

 Provision of information to the public of Omissions in the

budget and budget execution arising out of PAC Reports

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 Information Dissemination

 School Curriculum

- Include in the school curriculum subject areas

relating to public finance.

 Talk Shows

- LC and Village meetings.

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 Economic Uncertainty
 The performance of the economy has a direct bearing on its
citizens

 This is determined by macroeconomic framework which highlights

the desired objectives of the government.

 Confidence building among the population.

 Dialogue among arms of the government.

 Setting up and use of electronic communication systems where

people can interact.

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 How do we keep citizens
informed during economic
uncertainty and restore their
confidence

 Keep them regularly informed through the media of the

proposed government interventions to address the
challenges.

 Educate the public about the causes and how they are
likely to impact on their lives.

 Conduct public hearings as a way of building public

confidence so that the input from the public is
incorporated in subsequent actions of Government

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 How should governments explain
to citizens and their communities
how they benefit from public
spending over the long term?

 Government should be able to demonstrate the outputs

that citizens should expect from public spending.

 What new media may be employed to promote citizen

communication?

 E-government.

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 Conclusion

 Democratic theory demonstrates how important it is for

citizens to be adequately ‘informed’ and to be able to fully
exercise their rights and responsibilities.

 Through a clear understanding of rights and responsibilities

people can be empowered.

 Governments play an important role in promoting access to

public information alongside many other different
information 'proxies'.

END

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