Uganda’s policy management process is depicted in four stages through which the government makes, elaborates, gives legal and financial effects to, and actually delivers its policy commitments.
Stage 1: The Executive sets broad policy commitments binding it to implement a particular set of actions.
Stage 2: Departments/ Ministries prepare policy and budget proposals to deliver on the broad policy commitments.
Stage 3: The Executive provides adequate budgetary resource, removes procedural obstacles and anticipates the likely reaction of external veto players.
Stage 4: Departments/ Ministries implement
Cabinet is the apex policy organ of Government. The Constitution (Article 111(2)) empowers Cabinet to determine, formulate and implement policies of the Government. Cabinet is therefore responsible for ensuring an effective and efficient policy development and management machinery. Uganda’s national development policies are informed by various aspects. The Winning Party’s Manifesto is the basic source of Government policy and Cabinet has developed a series of tools to guide the translation of election commitments into government programmes. To guide the systematic and coherent implementation of public policy, government has put in place a national planning framework for defining its priorities and determining resource allocation modalities.
Policies are organized along sectors and in most cases the development of policy is done by the relevant line Ministry. When a Ministry identifies the need for a policy, it goes ahead to prepare a Draft Cabinet Memorandum based on guidelines provided by the Cabinet Secretariat. When a policy proposal has financial, legal or personnel implications, the sponsoring Ministry must obtain a certificate from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, or Justice and Constitutional Affairs or Public Service, as the case may be, to confirm that the resources required will be available to implement the proposed policy.
A catalogue of policies being implemented by Government was prepared by the Office of the Prime Minister in 2012, as a reference document for stakeholders including the general public. This catalogue featured general information about the policies, laws, regulations and programmes that Government is implementing.
OPM Catalogue of Policies - 24th April 2012.pdf
To further these efforts, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development conducted a stock take of Government policies to inform an update of Government’s policy Research Agenda over the medium term. In Q4 of FY 2020/21, three new policies were passed by Cabinet. Consequently, the stock take and subsequent validation with sectors indicated a total of 157 policies across 16 sectors. The new Policies are as follows;
- Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Policy, 2020
- National Child Policy,2020
- National Industrial Policy,2020
- In the first quarter of FY2021/22, Government did not pass any new policies in light of a new regime of Members of Legislative Assembly and a change in Speakership.
OPM Inventory of policies as at 30 June 2019_1.pdf
National Development Policies Catalogue -2020.pdf