World Bank Tells Govt to Stop Budget Misuse

Uganda: World Bank Tells Govt to Stop Budget Misuse

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The Monitor (Kampala)

14 June 2008
Posted to the web 13 June 2008

Yasiin Mugerwa
Kampala

A senior World Bank official has said that the high level of corruption in procurement deals in Uganda has disrupted national budget performance over the years.

Half of the national budget is spent on procurement deals where corruption is severe, said Mr V.S.

Krishnakumar, the bank's African procurement manager, while presenting a paper titled "Context of Public Procurement Reforms" at a three-day East African Procurement Summit in Kampala.

"We need to protect public resources," he said on Thursday. "The fact that half of the resources in the national budget go to procurement deals... explains why there is a need for government to strengthen internal financial controls to protect public resources."

The conference closed on Thursday, the same day Finance Minister Ezra Suruma presented the 2008/09 Budget. The World Bank's anti-corruption talk coincided with the release of a Bank report showing that the country has lost about $300 million (about Shs510 billion) annually since 2005 through corruption and procurement-related malpractice.

Mr Krishnakumar called for the enforcement of fair, competitive, transparent, non-discriminatory, and value-for-money public procurement and disposal standards and practices.

The 2005/06 Auditor General's report indicated that an estimated 20 percent of the value of public procurement was lost through corruption, prompted by weak public procurement systems yet procurement accounts for a high percentage of public expenditure.

In his written response distributed to participants, Dr Suruma said the government is committed to fighting procurement-related corruption. "We created the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) in 2003," Dr Suruma said. "The objective of this system is to create efficiency, accountability and value for money. We shall continue to review the systems."

Reiterating the need to streamline service delivery, Mr Krishnakumar told participants: "It is useless to have good procurement laws without implementation. Compliance is still a major challenge in Uganda and East African governments should take keen interest in fighting procurement corruption because it is a serious problem to development."

Relevant Links East Africa Economy, Business and Finance International Organizations and Africa Uganda

He said that in Uganda, more than 70 per cent of the government contracts were not awarded according to established procurement procedures, a set-up that has continued to upset budget performance.

Procurement-related corruption is a problem throughout East Africa. This form of corruption takes the number one spot in Kenya as it does in Uganda.

The conference that attracted participants from Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda was intended to enhance the effectiveness of public procurement systems in the region.

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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID : Kayisa66