Finance PS Ggoobi warns accounting officers over budget execution ‘games’

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Finance ministry permanent secretary and secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi has written to all accounting officers, warning them against what he calls 'budget execution games'.

In a budget circular dated July 24, 2025, to all accounting officers, Ggoobi observed that several accounting officers were engaged in budget execution games in order to secure additional funds outside the approved work plans and budget.

He said such games will not be tolerated and such funds, if proven will be repurposed.

“I have observed that some Votes engage in budget execution games, for example, whereas some votes budget for in-house contributory schemes, others budget for excess wages and request a change to non-wage-related expenditures towards the end of the financial year. Similarly, others cause and report emergency situations that could be predicted and planned for. Some accounting officers report such situations as a game to secure additional funds outside the approved work plans and budget. You are cautioned against engaging in such practices as this will not be tolerated anymore,” Ggoobi said.

Ggoobi noted that the finance ministry has continued to observe a rise in virement requests from Votes.

“This trend is driven by inadequate budgeting and poor resource prioritisation that undermines budget credibility. Some workplan changes and virement requests are part of the budget games, if detected and verified, these funds shall be repurposed to other priorities in the subsequent budgets,” he said.

Ggoobi noted that when virements are unavoidable, they must be submitted online through the Programme Budgeting System (PBS) in accordance with Section 21 (2) of the Public Financial Management Act, Cap. 171, and before the start of the next quarter.

He said no virements will be permitted after expenditure limits have been issued and funds released.

“Each virement request must include an updated work plan showing which outputs will be scaled down/ up or deferred, as well as the new outputs,” he directed.

Supplementary expenditures

On supplementary expenditures, Ggoobi said it has been observed that several Votes do not adequately allocate resources for statutory, mandatory, and critical expenditures during the budgeting process, resulting in recurring supplementary budget requests during implementation.

He advised accounting officers to prioritise the expenditures and ensure they are the first to be catered for in the budget.

“In instances where critical needs emerge during budget execution, Votes are encouraged to utilise the virement provision up to 10 per cent in accordance with the Public Finance Management Act, Cap. 171, to address such emergencies,” he advised.

To ensure timely release and availability of funds for budget execution, he said the finance ministry will continue to issue quarterly expenditure limits for recurrent, development expenditure and statutory expenditures not later than the 10th day of the first month of each quarter;  release funds for Missions Abroad twice in the course of the financial year, release funds for all institutions of learning, including primary, secondary, tertiary, BTVETs, and other post-secondary institutions aligned to the termly calendar and semesters of the academic year and for the agriculture sub-programme, funds will be released in line with seasonality of the activities to ensure timely availability of the necessary inputs.

Ggoobi also said the ministry will release 100 percent of Local Government Development Grants by the third quarter (Q3) to avoid unspent balances at the end of the Financial Year, release local revenue to Local Governments based on actual remittance to the Uganda Consolidated Fund by the individual Local Governments and all quarterly expenditure limits will be guided by the votes’ work plans, cash flow plan and the projected cash position of Government for the quarter.

The accounting officers have also been directed to convene Finance Committee meetings after expenditure limits are issued to agree on priorities for the quarter and allocation of funds to cost centres and departments before warranting.

“Ensure these meetings take place, and submit signed minutes along with hard-copy warrants to the Ministry each quarter by end of the third week of the first month of the quarter,” the circular reads.

In order to align the expenditures with planned interventions as per National Development Programme (NDP) IV, Ggoobi advised the accounting officers to ensure that the Head Planning, being the secretariat of the Finance Committee, should prepare and present the projections for warranting to the Committee for approval.

“The Head Accounts should load a warrant consistent with the allocations approved by the Finance Committee. This will ensure consistency with planned activities, thereby contributing to the achievement of NDP IV objectives,” the circular reads.

Warranting of funds

Ggobi directed that within five working days of receiving the quarterly expenditure limits, Accounting Officers must submit their accounting warrants after which the Ministry will then review and either approve or reject the warrants within 48 hours of receipt.

“You must warrant 100 per cent of cash expenditure limit across all categories and submit all warrants in a single batch that matches the issued limits. Any warrants that do not comply will be automatically rejected,” Ggoobi warned.

He said funds must be warranted only against their correct expenditure category.

“No warranting funds across expenditure categories will be entertained, and each expense must be charged to its proper category,” he said.