The Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury (PSST), Ramathan Ggoobi, has cautioned central and local government planners against engaging in what he termed “budget games” during the planning and budgeting process.
Speaking at a meeting organized by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development at Speke Resort Munyonyo on Thursday Evening, Ggoobi challenged planners to align institutional work plans with the country’s national development agenda and ensure efficiency in service delivery.
He emphasized that all government policies and plans must be guided by the Tenfold Growth Strategy, the National Development Plan, Program Implementation Action Plans, MDA Strategic Plans, Annual Workplans, and budgets.
“As planners, you ought to guide allocation of resources to essential areas and minimize accumulation of domestic arrears. Those found culpable will be sanctioned together with their accounting officers,” Ggoobi warned.
The PSST outlined common “budget games” such as padding, where MDAs request more funds than needed, playing the “crisis card” to secure allocations, and “mandate masquerade,” where agencies exaggerate their mandates to justify requests.
He urged planners to prioritize critical areas and enablers of development that will accelerate Uganda’s socio-economic transformation.
He also revealed that the government is reviewing the structure and professionalism of the Economist/Planner cadre, a process being fast-tracked with support from the Ministry of Public Service and the National Planning Authority.
“I have directed accounting officers to adequately facilitate the planning function across all votes,” Ggoobi added.
Earlier, the chairperson of the planners, Gideon Mugulusi, asked government to introduce a planning conditional grant to support data management, monitoring, and evaluation activities.
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