Uganda can achieve its development goals if accountability is backed by a visionary Public Financial Management Strategy put at the Centre of our efforts, Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi has said.
Mbabazi who was officially launching the Public Financial Management Strategy (PFM) 2014-18, Thursday at Serena Hotel in Kampala, noted that strategies are meant to give direction and to highlight areas that must be harnessed to achieve set objectives. He said enhancing service delivery is crucial as it underpins the NRM Government election commitment of: Better Service Delivery and Job Creation.
The launch of the Financial Management Strategy by the Ministry of Finance, closely follows another launch two weeks ago of the Accountability Sector Strategic Plan, which was yet another significant milestone to this Strategy. It will support and benefit all the other Government of Uganda reforms by providing the means of ensuring that the resources allocated to the various sectors are applied effectively and efficiently to achieve the intended purposes and attain value for money.
Mbabazi called for a proactive formulation of programmes and activities that will give practical translation to the strategy, adding that ‘unless this is done, the strategy might just remain a blueprint that gathers dust on our shelves’, he said. He pledged government commitment to provide the political support for Public Financial Management reforms and will support the Ministry of Finance and other government institutions in implementing the same.
The Minister for Finance Maria Kiwanuka said the Public Financial Management Strategy, was a crucial tool for her ministry and assured that it will be used to enhance the principal of value for money. She hailed stake holder groups and the development partners for providing the necessary oversight to ensure relevance and comprehensiveness of the updated reform strategy.
Speaking on behalf of the development partners, the Head of the E.U delegation in Uganda Ambassador Kristian Schmidt appreciated the technical quality of the strategy, adding that ‘it forms a basis for further collaboration with the government of Uganda’, he said.
He observed that Development Partners have over the years looked at areas of financial mismanagement of public funds. He hoped that the new Strategy will address their concerns and guarantee that financial scandals will not occur again. ‘The EU will continue supporting good governance activities and other development partners will get convinced to work with Uganda government’, he said.
However, the development partners also set their demands required to facilitate the implementation process for the Strategy. Some of the demands included the need to give reforms a due date, implementation programme, legal framework and the continuous fight against corruption.
By Michael Mugerwa.
