Govt to scrap funding for national public celebrations to cut spending

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The Ministry of Finance has announced that at the beginning of the 2026/27 financial year, the government will no longer spend money on organising public holiday celebrations such as Women’s Day, Labour Day and Independence Day.

Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury (PSST), Ramathan Ggoobi, said on Sunday, May 31, 2026, that the President will instead address the nation via radio and television from State House, with the funds saved redirected to government priorities under the ATMS and Enablers agenda.

“The only exception to public holidays is the religious functions,” Ggoobi said.

He explained that the funds saved from organising these events will be redirected towards government priorities, including agro-industrialisation, tourism development, mineral development, science, technology and innovation, as well as other key development enablers.

Ggoobi’s statement comes in the wake of the Rationalisation of Agencies and Public Expenditure (RAPEX), a government reform initiative launched in 2024 aimed at enhancing efficiency by reducing duplication, merging or dissolving certain government agencies, and reallocating funds to improve public service delivery while controlling administrative costs.

When Cabinet adopted RAPEX in February 2021, the objective was to streamline more than 150 semi-autonomous agencies, eliminate duplication, reduce recurrent expenditure and ease mounting debt pressures.

Anchored in the Public Finance Management Act, 2015, the reform required amendments to several laws and the careful transition of staff, assets and liabilities.

By December 2025, Parliament had passed 35 laws rationalising 40 entities. Of these, 23 agencies were dissolved, merged or mainstreamed into parent ministries, while 17 rationalisation processes remain pending.

Key changes included the merger of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority into the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, and the dissolution of the Uganda National Roads Authority, with some of its staff returning to the Ministry of Works and Transport.

However, the 2026 Auditor General's report revealed that RAPEX had cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of shillings in disputed payouts, asset discrepancies and unresolved liabilities.

The report also showed that payments amounting to sh46.8 billion were made to staff who were reabsorbed into government service despite official guidance that reappointment constituted continuity of service and did not attract terminal benefits.

A further sh30.4 billion was paid to retirees, while 20 former employees were still awaiting settlement.

Despite clear guidance from the Attorney General and the Ministry of Public Service that reabsorbed staff were not entitled to severance pay, 1,389 reappointed officers received sh46.8 billion.

Additionally, 410 of the 425 retirees received sh30.4 billion.