The Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Ramathan Ggoobi has vowed to fight corruption in the public Sector. Goobi made the remarks in his keynote address on the topic: “Stimulating Uganda’s Economy and Development for Sustainability” during the virtual 9th CPA Economic Forum organized by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU).
“There are two types of corruption in government; the corruption of need which is driven by the low pay to government employees and the corruption of greed,” he said
On the issue of corruption driven by need, Goobi said that government is in the process of rationalizing public sector to have the human resource that is needed, and therefore pay them reasonably. In so doing, corruption driven by need will be minimized. He further said that the digitalization of government transactions would reduce the human interactions with money, and therefore a reduction in diverting resources for their own benefits.
He vowed to fight the corruption driven by greed through working with different players such as accountants and auditors to make sure that proper audits are done for all monies spent. “There is need to undertake audits that depict value for money. It is these audits that will help us prosecute corrupt officials, and also deter others from engaging in corruption,” he noted.
Result oriented accountability
“Speaking through results is the best way government can account to the public. Paper accountability on the other hand does not add value to the lives of the citizens, and that trend should stop. There is need for government policy implementers to do the actual implementation of programmes so that those results can speak for them,” Goobi said.
Opening up the economy
Airtel Africa and SpaceX Announce Strategic Partnership to Launch Starlink Direct to Cell Connectivity Across AfricaGgoobi said that vaccination was the only route the country would need to take to fully open up the economy in the short term. Short of that, more waves will continue disrupting business operations in the country. He also reiterated government’s commitment to vaccinate the masses so that normalcy could be retained.
Public debt
According to the PSST, public debt increased from 41% in the financial year 2019-2020 to approximately 49.9% in the financial year 2020/2021, and the overall growth of the economy declined between3-4 percent due to the effects of COVID-19. The effects brought about a stall in revenue growth yet expenditure to stem the spread of COVID-19 went up.
Long term strategies
To stimulate sustainable growth Ggoobi said that government and his leadership will dwell more on investing in sectors that have a multiplier effect on other sectors, those that have a high potential to create employment and those that are essential to livelihood. Some of these he said will include industrialization – agro-processing, light manufacturing, increase productivity in the agricultural sector for job creation.
This year’s economic forum, a three day event brings together over 500 accountants, business leaders and policy makers to forge a sustainable way forward on how the economy can be developed to benefit all Ugandans.
