Is government committed to serving the poor? This question arises out of the realization that whereas voices are heard at policy level, there is no impact at grassroots.

Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group: Public Dialogue on the budget

15^th May 2008 : Hotel Equatorial

 The half day meeting was well attended. Mr. Kenneth Mugambe, Commissioner Budgets at the MFED was main Speaker, while MP Hon. Geoffery Ekanya was discussant. Commissioner Mugambe’s presentation provoked a multitude of questions from the participants including:

 Is government committed to serving the poor? This question arises out of the realization that whereas voices are heard at policy level, there is no impact at grassroots.

 Are we doing any evaluation of impact, what are the corresponding statistics?

 We now have 80 districts in Uganda. Is there an upper limit to the number of districts in Uganda. Who gives advice on this?

 We talk about budgets, do we ever talk about the performance of previous budgets?

 Is there any difference in the performance of Chief Administration Officers now that they have been put at the centre?

Lesson learned from attending the forum:

It is important for organizations to have agendas for such forums. Before sending a staff member to a forum, the organization could reflect on the following:

What is the forum about?

Who are the potential participants of the forum?

So what is our organisation’s agenda in the forum?

What are your thoughts on the above?? 

Nora Odoi