NDP 4 will deliver Uganda to double-digit growth, says Minister Lugoloobi

The State Minister for Finance, Amos Lugoloobi has underscored the importance of National Development Plan IV in achieving the country’s vision 2040 plan.

Speaking during the national planning conference in Kampala, Lugoloobi said  NDP IV is also the last plan to deliver the Global Agenda 2030 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the first within the implementation of government’s strategy for achievement of 10-fold growth.

“This plan is in line with the president’s  ambition of growing the economy ten-fold, from $49.5 billion as of financial year  2023/2024 to $500 billion in the next 15 years, in a transformative, inclusive and sustainable manner,” he said.

“This strategic direction has been developed to exploit the available opportunities so as to fast-track the realization of the desired socio-economic transformation aspirations towards the achievement of the qualitative leap.”

He noted that the expectation by government is that the fourth National Development Plan will provide pathways to attaining the much-desired double-digit growth.

Lugoloobi said the new plan is anchored by the desire for  consolidation of development gains of past national development plans, accelerated implementation to close implementation gaps in the previous development plans; stronger follow up, management, and accountability for results, innovative financing and deepened private sector involvement in development, cognizant of the local content considerations

“The goal of the NDP IV is to achieve higher household incomes and employment for sustainable socio-economic transformation.”

The minister said the plan will be achieved through sustainable increase in production, productivity and value addition in agriculture, minerals, oil and gas, tourism, ICT and financial services as well as enhanced human capital development among other things.

The head of public service, Lucy Nakyobe said the progress made in service delivery in the past three national development plans, there are so many shortcomings.

“There is slow implementation characterized by lengthy and cumbersome procurement cycles; absence of service and service delivery standards in some instances and poor enforcement of service delivery standards and regulations in others; ineffective monitoring and evaluation; lack of transparency; disregard for accountability; and a number of development uncertainties and risks, among others,” Nakyobe said.

“The silo (compartmentalized) approach towards service delivery has also persisted, thereby limiting the intended purpose of the programme approach to planning and implementation.”

The head of public service said government is also faced with limited budget flexibility in light of the various commitments that have been made.

She emphasized the need to address underlying constraints that impeded full achievement of development goals and targets.

“We need to undertake a number of reforms and good practices in a multi-faceted approach. We  need to build the capacity of our public service to deliver adequate and quality public services during the NDPIV period,” Nakyobe said.

She added that government shall continue with instituting and implementing measures to strengthen public sector management and administration, and develop a results-oriented culture to ensure that the public officials are fully responsible and accountable for all the resources under their control.

“Development and enforcement of service and service delivery standards will be critical to provide a benchmark for monitoring and accountability.