Uganda Budget

My budget or their budget: Ugandans can know and track what is allocated to their area

Uganda Budget

Jane Nakigude, 56, was recently surprised to learn that the primary school her son Robert goes to receives 980,000 thousand from government every term. She says the head teacher and the school management committee have always told parents the government “sends little money sometimes”. Like many parents, Nakigude was attracted to this primary school for free primary education (UPE).

Nakigude and other parents were encouraged and later required to pay 5,000 Uganda shillings per pupil so the school administration could manage to provide scholastic materials and porridge to the pupils. Nakigude says she would have argued with the head teacher of this school in Masulita, Wakiso district if she knew exactly how much money the government allocates to the school.

Every June, the minister of Finance Planning and Economic Development reads the Uganda national budget, detailing the government’s planned expenditures and revenues.

Despite the flamboyance and importance that Ugandans attach to the budget, few citizens know what is allocated for service delivery in areas of work or residence. Much fewer know whether and when the money allocated has been disbursed by the ministry, whether it has reached the intended unit (sub-county, school, health center etc), or whether that money has been utilized the way it was meant to be utilized.

It is not that Ugandans do not want to know or follow up what is allocated by the pdf and spreadsheets in which the budget data is usually presented are difficult for many to comprehend, and many times allocations are presented in big allocations that hardly make sense for an individual to follow up. Even when the government has put information on budget allocations on www.budget.go.ug many Ugandans do not know what is allocated for what.

Under the my budget allocations initiatives, Ultimate Multimedia Consult attempts to present budget allocation data in different sectors and areas in well visualized and interactive ways that we hope will help more people access and understand their allocations as well have a say.

We start off by presenting unit based budget allocations to school, health centers, NAAD (agriculture) in Wakiso, Kampala and Mukono districts and hope to keep adding more.

The schools allocations show capitation grant (money for running the school) while health center data is primary health care and other specific health interventions specified. For Schools facilities grant (SFG), presidential pledges and other health allocations, see Annual Financial Budgets

Some of the budget funding like capitation grants for UPE schools is based on the number of pupils.

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N.B. To go back to the main map click on “Budget Allocations” below:

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