To realize effective financial scuriny in Uganda, the following reforms must be prioritized:
1. The legal framework needs to be changed in order to vest Parliament with amendment powers.
2. Sensitization of the legislators about the importance of the budget in meeting their constituency pledges, and therefore the need to demand a simplification of the budget documents.
3. The need to adopt a bottom-top apprach to budgeting so that community needs get costed and then resources identified. In other words, budgeting ceilings need to be informed by the community needs and plans that the other way round.
4. The budget information should be comprehensive, including all stand alone donor funded projects, loans and grants.
5. Revenue/tax measures should be communicated at the same time with expenditure measures. Parliament should approve taxes before approving expenditure plans.
6. The practice of passing the budget three months into the new financial year needs to be stopped as it imposes pressure on legislators to quickly pass the budget. The budget should be approved before the beginning of the financial year.
7. Public hearings, field visits, should be part of the budget approving processes.
8. Before the budget is approved, Parliament should review the performance of the previous budget or scrutinize the reports of the auditor general.
9. Parliament should network with professional organizations, civil society organizations to secure social support of its initiatives and decisions in respect to the budget.
10. Parliament should also increase its oversight of parastatal bodies which tend to be run outside the purview of parlaiements. Their budgets and strategic plans need to be brought under legislative scrutiny.
11. Parliament needs to build a relationship with the media so that the budget discussions are clearly captured and communicated to the general public.
