Uganda makes progress in infrastructure transparency, but more work needed

25 July 2024, 5:25 pm

By Byamukama

CoST International has launched the second Infrastructure Transparency Index (ITI) report, which shows a slight improvement in transparency in the country’s infrastructure sector. The report reveals that Uganda’s national ITI score increased from 20.8% in 2021 to 32.26% in 2024.

The report evaluates 58 projects from 30 government entities across four key dimensions: enabling environment, capacities and processes, citizen participation, and information disclosure. While improvements were observed across all dimensions, the performance still falls short of expectations.

Local governments performed poorly, with only five out of ten entities scoring above 15%. In contrast, central government entities performed better, with 55% scoring above 25% in disclosure.

The chief guest, who is also the Minister for Works and Transport, Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, congratulated the top-performing entities, including Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), the Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT), and the Office of the President. Eng. Stephen Kitonsa also encouraged entities to improve in areas where they performed poorly and called on others to double their efforts in promoting transparency.

During the launch, Geoffrey Odongo, Manager of CoST Uganda, expressed concerns over the growing challenge of disclosure in infrastructure projects. He emphasised the need for enhanced policy implementation to address this issue and recommended increased public engagement to develop strategies for raising public awareness.

“We need to do more to ensure that information about infrastructure projects is accessible to the public,” Odongo said. “This can be achieved through public engagements, community outreach programmes, and leveraging media platforms to disseminate information.”

The government has expressed appreciation to CoST International for providing the tool and financial support to implement it across government institutions. The ministry has committed to working with entities and stakeholders to address the issues and recommendations raised in the report.