Cabinet retreats to assess performance

Ezra Suruma, the senior presidential advisor on finance and planning chats with Jennifer Namuyangu, the state minister for local government during the retreat

GORVENMENT|PERFORMANCE

The Government is reviewing its performance for the past financial year to examine its activities and make adjustments in the new financial year aligning its performance targets to the available resource envelope.

The three-day retreat will discuss Government performance of the various departments in the past financilal year and will also consider Government priorities for the new financial year.

Some of the poor performers during the past financial year include public sector management at 49%, public administration at 60%, while water and environment at 74% and justice, law and order at 77%.

Presiding over the retreat, the Vice-President, Edward Ssekandi, said the Government performance reporting has improved in content quality since its inception and attributed this to the comprehensive guide offered by the national policy on public sector monitoring and evaluation.

Ssekandi lauded the office of the Prime Minister for producing the annual report which he said was a strategic tool highlighting accountability, focusing on broader Government performance issues in key areas of the Government business and provides critical information to decision making in Government departments. 

He said the theme "Enhanced Productivity for Job Creation" will provide an opportunity to assess the overall national goal of achieving a middle-income status by 2020 through commercialisation of agriculture, acceleration of industrialisation and increasing production and productivity in all sectors of the economy.

Permanent secretaries; Pius Bigirimana from the gender ministry, public service's Catherine Bitarakwate and defence's Rosette Byengoma during the retreat

The Prime Minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, in a statement read by first Deputy Prime Minister, Moses Ali, said  the objective of the  performance report is to provide timely information to policy makers on the performance of government during the previous financial year, highlighting deliverables and what has remained and why.

Rugunda said that by the end of 2016 financial year 2016, the performance of some outcomes had already surpassed the national development targets.

The state minister for Karamoja Affairs, Moses Kizige, while delivering a report on the progress of implementation of agreed actions during the previous cabinet retreat for five financial years said a total of 464 recommendations were made for implementation by the Government.

The three-day event has brought together policy makers, civil servants, government technocrats and local government leaders to take stock of the performance of the Government in fulfilling its responsibilities to the citizens of Uganda.