Sunday, September 12, 2021
BY: DOREEN NASASIRA
The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabbanja has called upon government stakeholders to utilize all the available platforms to enhance monitoring of government work and disseminating information about service delivery.
“Use all avenues to monitor and communicate about government work. This will limit the spread of propaganda by the members of the opposition,” the Premier said.
The Premier made the remarks at the closing of the two-day retreat for Government Annual Performance Review(GAPR) for the financial year 2020/21 organised under the theme “Stimulating the economy to safeguard livelihoods, jobs, business and industrial recovery” at the Office of the President’s conference hall on Wednesday.
The performance review aims to provide credible and timely information to policymakers by highlighting what has been delivered, what has not and the reason why.
The Premier highlighted that GAPR provides an opportunity to assess, scrutinize and provide positive criticism to the performance of the government and thanked all the stakeholders who participated in the sessions.
She noted that the value of GAPR can be achieved through implementing the recommendations and thus directed that timelines be set to respond to all major action points highlighted at the retreat.
“GAPR enables us as government to assess the performance gaps and find ways of filling those gaps. Therefore, there is a need to highlight the outcomes of this retreat and circulate the refined version of the report because the recommendations will guide the next course of action,” the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister also urged the Permanent Secretaries to focus on continuous monitoring of government programs to enhance effectiveness and minimise wastage of resources.
“Government is not going to accept wastage of resources. Do not sign any payments unless you are convinced that the government is not going to make a loss anywhere!” the Premier noted.
The Government Chief Whip, Hon. Thomas Tayebwa called for communication and sharing of data about the performance of the different districts. He suggested benchmarking as a tool for improving performance
According to the overview report, the overall performance was below average with the government achieving 36% at programme outcome level against the National Development Plan III target. The poor performance was attributed to budget cuts and the Covid- 19 lockdown period leading to slow progress in the implementation of programmes.
The retreat was also attended by the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs, Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, the Third Prime Minister and Minister without Portfolio, Hon. Rukia Nakadama, the Head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet, Lucy Nakyobe, Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, and Local Government officials among others.
