A team from the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG), led by Assistant Commissioner for Procurement Inspection, Johnson Musinguzi, engaged Accounting Officers, the Procurement and Disposal Unit (PDU), Contracts Committee members, and Community Development Officers in Masaka District and Mbarara City to strengthen the implementation of the Government’s Procurement reservation scheme.
The engagements emphasized how local governments can use public procurement as a tool to empower women, youth, and persons with disabilities while ensuring full compliance with the mandatory 15% reservation scheme requirement.
Commissioner Musinguzi explained that the government introduced key reforms to harmonize procurement across local governments and central government, resulting in one unified law that governs all public procurement processes.
One of the reforms was the reservation scheme that ensures specific categories of citizens (youth, women, and people with Disabilities)to directly benefit from government contracts.
He emphasized that all contracts below shs10 million in Local Governments should be reserved for special interest groups, describing it as both a legal obligation and a deliberate strategy to create decent livelihoods for unemployed youth, women, and persons with disabilities.
He added that these groups should be supported through simplified participation requirements, including reduced documentation requirements, so they are not locked out of opportunities meant to empower them.
Commissioner Musinguzi further encouraged local governments to organize, register, and maintain updated databases of special interest groups to ensure that procurement benefits local communities.
He stressed the importance of close coordination between Community Development Officers and Procurement in moblizing these groups.
According to Musisnguzi, timely payments to providers is key in order to realise the desired transformation.