By Judith Ugwumadu | 2 September 2014

Uganda’s Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi has launched a four-year public financial management strategy that he said was essential for the east African country to achieve its development goals.

Mbabazi said that his National Resistance Movement government ‘inherited an economy in shambles,’ and therefore the government’s PFM strategy was a significant milestone that ‘must be the centre of our efforts’ to boost the economy.

Mbabazi said ‘all indicators pointed to a failed state which presented a daunting challenge’ when he came to power in May 2011.

‘However, riding on a pragmatic approach, we embarked on stopping the haemorrhage of [public] resources and putting in place measures to enable us revamp the nation’s fortunes.’

Launching the PFM plan on August 28 in the capital Kampala, Mbabazi announced changes to a host of policy areas, which were intended to lead to PFM improvements.

Structural reforms would address the loss of resources through what he called a ‘bloated’ public enterprise sector.

In addition, a decentralisation scheme would devolve policy and financial management powers from central governments to local councils.

Mbabazi added that the government’s public services reform had also seen the creation of new structures responsible for revenue management, which had already led to improvements in tax administration by the Uganda Revenue Authority.