Effectiveness of Public Finance Management Frameworks/Reforms in Uganda

Abstract

In the last three decades, the Government of Uganda has put in place frameworks and executed reforms aimed at establishing an effective and participatory public finance management (PFM) system. This article examines the successes and failures of these reforms/frameworks. The main findings of this article are twofold. On the one hand, decent success in civil society and elite stakeholders’ participation in budgetary processes, fiscal discipline, allocative and operational efficiency, and budget transparency have been achieved using the adopted PFM frameworks. On the other hand, there is ineffective local citizen participation in PFM processes, misallocation of public funds, a bloated administrative and legislative structure, excessive borrowing, poor absorption of borrowed funds, corruption and the impact of Covid-19 pandemic are eroding the initial success of PFM reforms in Uganda.