The Open Budget Survey is a global research and advocacy program which aims to promote public access to budget information and adoption of accountable budget systems. This international survey which is premised on three pillars of transparency, oversite and public participation is carried out after every two years. In the 2017 survey, the results indicated that the rate at which Uganda provides information to the public stood at 60% making it the second-best on the continent after South Africa which scored 89%. On the budget oversite a lot provided by the legislators, Uganda scored 63% but when it came to public participation in the budget process Uganda scored below average at 28%. “The era of public participation, much as the global average was 12% Uganda scored only 28%. So meaning that Uganda provides very few opportunities for the public to engage in the budget process at all stages. And this is an area where our government and the civil society need to work together to be able to improve our score.” Said, Imelda Namaganda – Programs Managing, UDN.

“We performed poorly on certain participation because we did not publish the citizens’ guide on the website. But we have it, it was launched and we received copies I even have copies here.” Said, Julius Mukunda – Executive Director, CSBAG. “Going forward, we are going to try and narrow the gap. South Africa scored 89 and we scored 60, so although we are number two there is a gap between us and South Africa. So our challenge now is to ensure that we reduce and narrow the gap.” Said, Kenneth Mugambe – Director Budget, Ministry of Finance. The country now prides in being the best in the region for making budget information accessible to the public. Neighbors like Kenya scored 46%, Rwanda 22% while Tanzania scored 10% with Burundi scoring 7%. “As a country, we are proud to say we are on the right track and being on the right track doesn’t mean that there aren’t any things we are supposed to do, I think there are other areas we need to do and even to do better.” Said, the Executive Director CSBAG. “We see that there is a direct correlation between access to information and the fight against corruption. We believe that when citizens have the adequate information they are able to use it to hold leaders accountable.” Said, the Programs Manager UDN.

But even when these results put Uganda in the top position, on the overall the country has been wholesomely declining in budget transparency in the past six years. In 2012, the country scored 65%, in 2015 it scored 62% and in 2017 it scored 60%. “Because our assumption is that at the Sub County and LC I those consultations are done by the local governments but ours would now be to combine all these local governments at a regional level and consult them. But if resources allow and time we can be able to go down at the district and the Sub County with time.” Said, David Bahati – State Minister for Finance. The Uganda Debt Network coordinated the survey with the International Budget partnership.