The Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) has raised concerns over the government’s capacity to achieve the ambitious goals outlined in Uganda’s fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV).
Appearing before the Budget Committee, chaired by Hon. Patrick Isiagi, on Wednesday, 8 January 2025, CSBAG’s Executive Director, Julius Mukunda, noted that fiscal deficits, misaligned priorities, and inefficiencies in execution jeopardize the plan’s success unless immediate reforms are implemented. The committee is currently reviewing the draft proposals for NDP IV.
Mukunda emphasized that the NDP IV, which provides a blueprint for Uganda’s development over the next five years, faces a significant disparity between the proposed budget and the resources necessary to fulfill its objectives.
For the financial year 2025/26, the government has allocated UGX 57.4 trillion, falling short of the required UGX 67.8 trillion.
“Starting NDP IV with a UGX 10.4 trillion shortfall suggests an early failure in achieving its targets,” Mukunda stated.
He criticized the insufficient funding for key initiatives such as the Area-Based Transformative Measures (ATMs), which are vital to the success of NDP IV.
“These ATMs, considered the cornerstone of the plan, have been allocated only UGX 2.7 trillion out of the needed UGX 4.7 trillion. This UGX 2 trillion gap undermines the entire strategy,” Mukunda added.
Mukunda further highlighted discrepancies in resource distribution, where certain initiatives, such as Development Plan Implementation and Sustainable Urbanization and Housing, received allocations exceeding NDP IV projections.
“This reflects poor coordination and disorganized resource allocation rather than additional investment,” he remarked, stressing that fragmented efforts could derail the development plan’s core objectives. He called for better inter-agency collaboration to ensure that interventions are strategically planned and realistically costed.
“We need data-driven cost estimates that align with available resources and expected outcomes. Only then can we guarantee that every shilling contributes directly to Uganda’s transformation agenda,” Mukunda said.
He also advocated for stronger accountability frameworks to oversee resource utilization.
“Accountability must be enforced at every level, from national agencies to local governments, to ensure funds are used as intended and to curb waste and corruption,” he stated.
Mukunda criticized the country’s outdated legal framework, which he argued does not fully accommodate the programmatic budgeting approach introduced in NDP IV.
“The Public Finance Management Act of 2015 and its accompanying regulations still reference sectoral committees and sector budget framework papers, which are incompatible with this new method,” he explained.
He urged Parliament to amend the law to institutionalize program-based budgeting and restructure its committees to monitor outcomes of initiatives spanning multiple sectors.
Hon. Faith Nakut (NRM, Napak District Woman Representative) praised CSBAG’s recommendations, particularly on introducing penalties for districts that fail to adhere to the NDP, stating that such measures would compel compliance.
Amolatar District Woman MP, Hon. Agnes Apea, remarked that the NDP appears more like a project proposal than a comprehensive development plan.
“In terms of infrastructure, for instance, the plan could have outlined clear strategies for Northern Uganda, such as specific rail links or road connections. Instead, it seems fragmented,” she said.
