Uganda government enforces tougher budget rules for 2026/27 as accounting officers face automatic sanctions

Government has introduced a package of reforms to tighten discipline, credibility and accountability in the way public money is planned, budgeted and spent, warning accounting officers that breaking the new rules will trigger automatic penalties ranging from withheld funds to the loss of their jobs.

The Secretary to the Treasury, Dr Ramathan Ggoobi, set out the measures at a meeting with accounting officers from both central and local government in Kampala, singling out the areas that need the closest attention under the Budget Execution Circular for the 2026/27 financial year. The briefing followed the ministry’s release of about UGX 23.03 trillion (roughly USD 6.2 billion) for the first quarter of the year’s UGX 84.39 trillion (about USD 22.8 billion) budget.

Ggoobi said counterpart funding — the government’s own contribution to projects that are partly financed by external lenders — would now be managed centrally by the Treasury Operations Department, with ministries, departments and agencies submitting their requirements each quarter. The centralisation is intended to protect financing for priority projects.

On procurement, common-user items such as vehicles, IT equipment and tyres must be bought through national framework agreements led by the ICT and Works ministries and processed on the electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) system, part of a wider effort to cut costs and bureaucracy.

The migration of the government payroll to the Human Capital Management (HCM) system was due for completion by July 2026. Under the tightened timelines, salaries must be paid by the 28th of each month and pensions by the 15th. Taxes and National Social Security Fund (NSSF) contributions must likewise be remitted by the 28th. All contracts must be denominated in Uganda shillings, except for the country’s missions abroad and specific arrangements with development partners — a measure that limits the government’s exposure to exchange-rate swings.

The Parish Development Model (PDM) has entered what the ministry calls its sustainability and acceleration phase, with UGX 1.059 trillion (about USD 286 million) allocated this year. Local governments have been directed to recover outstanding loans through Wendi, the Pear Bank-developed digital wallet that delivers the UGX 1 million Parish Revolving Fund loans to beneficiaries, and are barred from charging any access fees, in line with a standing directive that beneficiaries should pay nothing to receive their money. The two-year grace period on the first PDM loans expired in March 2026, moving the programme into active repayment.

For public investment management, votes must plan and report through the Integrated Bank of Projects, the government’s online project database, and the 28 projects that have exited the Public Investment Plan are required to upload completion and evaluation reports this quarter.

Ggoobi also repeated a warning against what he terms budget execution games — manoeuvres by some votes to secure money outside their approved work plans, such as budgeting for excess wages and then seeking to divert the funds to other uses late in the financial year. He said such practices would not be tolerated.

Officers who ignore the circular risk a range of consequences: non-renewal of their accounting-officer contracts, withheld quarterly releases, suspension from the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS), public disclosure, and referral to oversight bodies.

The directives sit within a broader shift the ministry has signalled throughout the year, away from appeals for prudence and towards enforceable rules. From this financial year, accounting officers must sign a Budget Discipline and Accountability Charter, now part of their performance contracts, built around five rules including “No budget, no commitment” and zero tolerance for arrears, and backed by an automatic administrative sanctions framework.