An assessment of budget performance in Uganda’s public sector: a case of Gulu City

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the budget performance in Uganda’s public sector specifically in Gulu city as a case study. The study was conducted with objectives including; To examine the relevance of public sector budgeting, Asses the challenges associated with public sector budgeting and to evaluate public sector budgeting strategies in Gulu city. To achieve the above objectives, the study collected data through primary and secondary sources with a target population of 80 Gulu city officials. The study recorded a response rate of 80.3% were the majority of the respondents were male totaling to 27 represented by 50.9% of the population while 26 respondents represented by 49.1% were female. The study aimed to establish the relevance of public sector budgeting in Uganda. The findings indicated that public budgets improve management efficiency, allow for controlling and monitoring of resources, help government to estimate its revenues and expenditures, and aid in integrating planning and implementations. The study also purposed to assess the challenges affecting public budgeting in Uganda. The study found that public sector organizations; rarely meet budget targets, face institutional weaknesses, are politically polarized, and are not inclusive. Finally, the study sought to examine the public sector budgeting strategies used in Uganda. The study discovered that local governments use incremental budgeting to examine changes from previous budgeting, program-based budgeting systems plays a key role in improving operations of the lower levels of government, new public management ensures budget discipline and resource stringency and that public budgets should be reviewed and updated severally. In conclusion, based on the 53 responses from the field, the researcher can confirm that budgeting is very relevant, has a lot of challenges and strategies are being formulated to improve xi public budgeting in the district. Furthermore, more need to be done to support local government to formulate sustainable public budgeting strategies. the study recommends that the structures and categories of budgets be altered in order to more effectively assist decision-making and accountability. Secondly, the study recommends capacity building initiatives as a means of improving strategic budgeting capabilities.