Oulanyah tasks APRM to promote private sector led growth

The Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah has urged the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) to ensure its findings and recommendations work in favour of the development of the ordinary Ugandan.

Oulanyah made the remarks while officiating at the national validation for the second assessment report on implementation of Uganda African Peer Review Mechanism(APRM) national programme of action for the financial years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.

The APRM is Africa's innovative and ambitious initiative on governance, launched in 2003 by member states of the African Union.

The states agreed, voluntarily, to subject themselves to self and peer-assessment of their national governance policies and practices.

Oulanyah explained that the mechanisms employed should interrogate whether measurable impact is delivered to the people, and also promote private sector led growth.

"The peer review mechanism should also promote access to affordable credit so that Ugandans can invest easily. Interest rates are the basis of the general concern about affordable credit. If our private sector had developed, we would have lesser issues to do with unemployment because there would be enterprises to close this gap,”he said.

Oulanyah said President Museveni is committed to improving good governance in Uganda, which has steadied the course of leadership in the country.

The speaker tasked the APRM to interrogate whether measurable impact is delivered to the people, and whether the mechanisms evaluate the impact of Government's actions.

Amos Lugoloobi, the minister of state for Finance (Planning) and the focal person for APRM in Uganda said that the country has spent Shs 28 trillion in implementing the various interventions presented in the national programme of action.

He said a National Development Plan (NDP) has been formulated, comprising programmes that will address issues within the plan of action, and that budgeting is going according to the programme approach.

"We are doing very well as per the assessment by APRM. A number of achievements and all the parameters have indicated an excellent performance," said Lugoloobi.