First Infrastructure Transparency Index _Report December 2021

A word from the Champion

On 10th February 2021, at the launch of the 4th Assurance Report, I announced and commissioned the first Infrastructure Transparency Index and invited Government entities to provide maximum support to CoST Uganda for its effective completion.

I am pleased to learn that 60 projects from 30 entities have been evaluated in this Index. I congratulate the 30 entities and CoST Uganda on this significant milestone. The inaugural results speak to four critical dimensions: enabling environment, capacities and processes, citizen participation, and information disclosure. However, the performance is not to our required standard; this means that these areas will have to score up to 100% in subsequent indices to realize full transparency.

The Uganda national ITI score in the year 2021 stands at 20.8%. Uganda’s performance in the enabling environment dimension is at 41.4%, information disclosure at 18.4%, citizen participation at 13.8% and capacities and processes at 13.5%. Looking at the performance in the different dimensions, we will need concerted efforts to achieve full transparency in the sector. I am much more concerned that Local Governments performance in the Index was woefully bad, especially on disclosure, with nearly all the thirteen local governments scoring less than 15%. , Local governments are the stewards of a sustainable budget for the sector, and as such, contract terms should have transparency and accountability provisions, central government entities all-encompassing.

My Ministry provides stewardship to the CoST Uganda programme. In my capacity as the Champion, I congratulate the inaugural winners, including Kampala Capital City Authority, who scored 62%, Uganda National Roads Authority with 58% and the Office of the Prime Minister with 48%. As we celebrate your good performance, we challenge you to maintain this position in subsequent indices and; Uganda other entities to take you over. Through the ITI, several areas of strength were identified; Uganda has the requisite enabling environment at 41.1%, but there is a need to strengthen compliance and implement sanctions and incentives to improve transparency, accountability and performance of infrastructure projects.

With the low levels of transparency revealed through this index, I call upon respective Government entities, oversight bodies, state and non-state actors to note these areas of improvement and recommendations to inform positive change.

On behalf of the Government, I extend thanks to CoST International for providing this tool and the financial support to apply it across government institutions. I invite CoST International to consider running this Index as an annual process alongside the Assurance process to facilitate improvements. My Ministry will work with the respective entities and stakeholders to address the issues and recommendations raised in the first Index.

GEN. EDWARD KATUMBA WAMALA

Minister of Works and Transport

CoST Uganda Champion