Greening Uganda's Public Sector Procurement Policy

Uganda has put in place an elaborate system of institutions, laws and regulations to ensure the prudent use of public resources. Public sector procurement is at the centre of the way public money is spent and hence plays a pivotal role in a country's public financial management system. Its importance is derived from its role as the vehicle by which typically more than 55% of the budget implementation is managed in the country. Budgets get translated into goods and services in large part through the workings of the public sector procurement system.

Since the early 1990s, the Government of Uganda has been pursuing strategic reforms in public financial management aimed at supporting the Government's goal of poverty eradication through the achievement of good governance, sustainable growth and a stable macroeconomic environment. However, the existing public sector procurement system does not visibly recognize or promote sustainable procurement, and there has been minimal emphasis on the social and environmental impact of public sector procurement, hampering the attainment of the Government's environmental and social goals.

In July 2013, the Government of Uganda set up a technical working group to develop a national public sector procurement policy that clearly provides objectives and strategic direction for the procurement system in Uganda. The policy document was developed and formulated through a consultative process involving both the central and local governments and the procurement sector, civil society, suppliers, oversight bodies, development partners and other key stakeholders.

The aim of the policy is to introduce a paradigm shift from the traditional approach of looking at public sector procurement as an administrative function to seeing it as a strategic function that facilitates socioeconomic development and transformation. It encourages the use of public sector procurement to promote the Government’s social, environmental and economic objectives and to achieve the targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.

Greening Uganda’s national public sector procurement policy
To foster sustainability by integrating the social, environmental and economic dimensions into the national public sector procurement policy of Uganda, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development requested the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide technical support for the adoption of a sustainable public procurement approach. In response, UNEP provided policy support for greening the draft national public sector procurement policy through the SWITCH Africa Green programme. This culminated in a workshop that gathered together more than 100 experts from various ministries, parastatal entities and government agencies involved in procurement in Uganda. The Sustainable Public Procurement Workshop, jointly organized by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of Uganda and UNEP, took place in Entebbe, on 6 and 7 August 2018, with the key objective of ensuring that environmental sustainability was integrated into Uganda’s public sector procurement policy. As public sector procurement is a cross-cutting issue in ensuring the transition to a green economy, the workshop was crucial to making senior procurement officers aware of green procurement operations.

As Uganda was currently reviewing its draft national public sector procurement policy and public procurement and disposal act and subsequent regulations, the moment was right to leverage environmental sustainability and its inclusion in both the draft policy and act and in actual operations. 

The workshop began with remarks from Mr. Allan Kasagga, Director of Finance, National Environment Management Agency, who pointed out the need to address poor procurement practices and disposal procedures, which required a policy to mitigate negative impacts on the environment.

Ms. Kamala Ernest made remarks on behalf of UNEP. She began by stating that procurement was a key enabler for implementing the 2030 Agenda and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 12. She explained that sustainable procurement was a driver for creating green jobs and greening small and medium-sized enterprises, along with tools like eco-labelling and resource efficiency, which led to profitability, and ultimately reduced environmental degradation.

Sustainable procurement is key driver to green job creation - Ms Kamala Ernest, UNEP

Officially opening the workshop, Mr. Lawrence Semakula, Accountant General of Uganda, underscored the importance of a clear road map for guiding the implementation of a sustainable procurement policy that would be incorporated into the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, which was currently being amended.

"Uganda’s green growth strategy has recognized that a national transition to a green economy by, among other things, shifting government expenditure, especially public procurement, towards value chains that encourage sustainable consumption and production, is imperative."
— Mr. Lawrence Semakula, Accountant General, Uganda

Mr. David Kiyingi Nyimbwa, Acting Commissioner of the Procurement Policy and Management Department at the Ministry of Finance, in his presentation on the strategic use of sustainable public procurement as a tool for socioeconomic transformation and promotion of innovative and sustainable policies, said: “It is time we have strategic use of public sector procurement as a tool for socioeconomic transformation and promotion of innovative and sustainable policies under consideration of the three aspects – social, economic and environmental 
– in line with the ‘three P’s’: people, planet and profits.”

In her presentation, Ms. Specioza Mukazi, a procurement specialist, explained the role of sustainable public procurement in solving gender and social concerns. She noted that 90% of rural women had been mobilized for entrepreneurship development under the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme, and that in the previous two years (2015–2017) over 44,000 women had benefited from programme loans.

The highlight of the second day of the workshop was a presentation by Mr. Farid Yaker from UNEP, who gave the participants an opportunity to perform some exercises to identify the challenges for sustainable procurement in Uganda and discuss solutions and the way forward.

Other presentations were made by Mr. Charles Ndandiko, on sustainable public procurement in practice, and Mr. Moses Ojambo, on e-procurement opportunities. Both presentations set out practical actions needed to foster green procurement in Uganda, including guidelines for meeting sustainable procurement objectives.

Ultimately, the discussions led to a road map for the way forward. The main resolutions were: (a) to capture UNEP inputs into the National Public-Sector Procurement Policy in the draft policy by September 2018; and (b) to amend the Act and related regulations to include a new section on sustainable procurement.

Closing remarks were made by Ms. Ernest, who said that she was pleased with the outcome of the workshop and the excellent contributions by the participants. The workshop was officially closed by Mr. Kiyingi Nyimbwa, who said that the Government was keen on supporting sustainable procurement but that raising awareness and building capacity among procurement officials would be critical. He stressed that the amended Public Procurement and Disposal Act would include a new section on sustainable procurement.