The Opposition in Parliament has unveiled the Human Rights Based Budgeting Approach which they want to replace the government’s struggling Program Based Budgeting and planning approach.
The leader of the opposition Mathias Mpuuga, says budgeting according to people’s human rights and needs is the best way to go in order to enhance government service delivery.
Recently, the government of Uganda initiated transitions to program-based budgeting (PBB) to better align budgets to public policy priorities and to enhance accountability and transparency. However, as some government agencies are still grappling with the transformation which was aimed at strengthening the link between government strategic objectives, budget allocations, and service delivery outputs the Permanent secretary of the ministry of finance Ramathan Ggoobi who doubles as a secretary to the treasury says it has been a success.
However, the opposition in parliament is yet to be convinced of the program-based budgeting and so, they have come up with the Human Rights Based Budgeting approach as the best alternative that can deliver service delivery to the people.
In this approach, the opposition wants government budgeting to be informed by the needs and rights of Ugandans. Legislators are concerned that at many times citizens are detached from the national budget and they are losing appetite for listening to budget speech because it doesn’t address their welfare.
Led by the leader of the opposition Mathias Mpuuga, the opposition believes the government can be persuaded into their approach if better service delivery is its major priority.
Jonathan Odur the Shadow minister of Defense, hailed the Human rights-based budgeting approach as the best reform Uganda can have, after achieving a lot for many countries across the globe. He says the system facilitates a bottom-top approach to planning and budgeting.
