Uganda’s Silent Killer: Lawyers Join Fight Against Trans Fats as NCDs Rise
Shift Media News 
By PATRICK JARAMOGI
KAMPALA — Uganda, November 14 [SHIFT MEDIA] Uganda is taking major steps toward strengthening transparency and accountability in public infrastructure spending following the release of a new Mapping Report that identifies critical upgrades needed for the Government Procurement Portal (GPP) to align with global open contracting standards.
The report, presented on Thursday by Michael Cengkuru, an Open Data Specialist was unveiled during a Use Case Workshop co-organized with Africa Freedom of Information Center (AFIC) Uganda, and the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA). The workshop, held at the PPDA Towers in Kampala, brought together regulators, procurement officers, and civil society leaders to examine how Uganda can modernize its procurement data systems in line with the Open Contracting for Infrastructure Data Standard (OC4IDS).
Speaking during the presentation, Cengkuru emphasized that the GPP—already regarded as a regional model for procurement transparency—now stands at a turning point. “Uganda has made significant progress by publishing machine-readable procurement data,” he said. “But the next step is upgrading the system to capture project-level, sustainability, and environmental safeguards information so that citizens and regulators can track whether infrastructure delivers on its promises.”
The Worship was opened by the Director Performance Monitoring at PPDA Dr Byaruhamga Aloysius who said PPDA is commuted to ensuring the CoST data points are reflected in the upcoming upgrade of the GPP.
Assessment: A Strong Foundation, But Major Gaps Remain
The Mapping Report, prepared for AFIC and PPDA, assessed the GPP’s current data architecture against 148 elements required under OC4IDS, a global framework used to make infrastructure investments more transparent and accountable.
The findings reveal that although the GPP performs strongly on basic procurement disclosures—such as tender notices, evaluation criteria, award amounts, and supplier information—it currently meets only 17.6% of the OC4IDS requirements. Out of 148 data elements assessed, just 26 are published on the platform.
More critically, only 4.2% of project-level disclosure paths are mapped. This means Uganda can publish who won what contract, but cannot yet track whether the contracted works were completed on time, within budget, or according to environmental and social commitments.
“This gap limits lifecycle oversight,” Cengkuru explained. “Citizens and oversight bodies cannot easily follow a project from planning to completion, making it harder to verify value for money.
Regulatory Pressure Meets Climate Finance Opportunities
Uganda’s procurement systems are under new obligations arising from the PPDA 2023 Regulations, which came into effect in February 2024. The regulations require procuring entities to disclose Environmental, Social, and Health Safeguards (ESHS) information for public infrastructure projects.
However, the current GPP does not yet support structured ESHS data fields. This shortfall, the report warns, may hinder compliance and limit access to climate-related financing that increasingly demands robust sustainability reporting.
The report highlights that Uganda could tap into an estimated $2.5 billion in regional climate finance—but only if procurement data includes standardized sustainability indicators.
“Access to climate financing isn’t just about project proposals,” Cengkuru noted. “Financiers want evidence of compliance, environmental safeguards, and lifecycle monitoring. Without structured data, Uganda risks missing out.”
Three Strategic Enhancements Proposed
To address the gaps, the Mapping Report recommends three major upgrades:
1. Establish a structured ESHS compliance framework
Introduce 23 new fields to meet PPDA’s 2023 regulatory requirements and enable consistent environmental and social safeguards reporting.
2. Create project-level architecture using unique identifiers
This would allow contracts to be linked across planning, tendering, implementation, and completion—ensuring that infrastructural promises made during planning can be tracked through delivery.
3. Integrate 78 sustainability and beneficial ownership indicators
Prioritize at least 15 key fields essential for unlocking climate finance and complying with Regulation 119, which demands transparency around beneficial ownership.
Positioning Uganda as a Regional Leader
The report also connects Uganda’s upgrade path to commitments made at the 16th East African Public Procurement Forum (EAPF) in 2024, where member states agreed to advance sustainable public procurement and implement beneficial ownership transparency.
Implementing the proposed enhancements, particularly the sustainability modules and ownership disclosure fields, would place Uganda at the forefront of regional reform efforts.
“Uganda already leads the region in publishing open procurement data,” said Cengkuru. “With these upgrades, the GPP would become a powerful infrastructure transparency tool not just for Uganda but for the entire East African Community.”
Why It Matters: Accountability, Value for Money, and Public Trust
Uganda invests more than UGX 1.5 trillion every year in public infrastructure. Yet, like many countries in the region, projects often suffer from cost overruns of 25–40% and frequent delays. The report argues that richer, more structured data could help tackle these challenges by allowing:
* Early detection of cost variations
* Verification of contractor performance
* Monitoring of environmental and social impacts
* Independent analysis by civil society, journalists, and development partners
“Upgrading the GPP transforms transparency from simply knowing who won a contract to understanding whether public infrastructure truly met development, sustainability, and value-for-money objectives,” Cengkuru emphasized.
PPDA and AFIC are expected to begin technical consultations on implementing the recommendations, including adjusting data structures, building new reporting modules, and training procuring entities on updated disclosure processes.
CoST Uganda pledged support for ensuring the upgrades align with international best practices and national priorities.
As Uganda prepares for the next phase of procurement transparency, stakeholders at the workshop stressed the importance of collaboration. The upgrades, they agreed, are not merely technical—they are essential for fostering public trust, attracting climate finance, and ensuring that infrastructure projects improve lives across the country.
The AFIC Executive Director
Gilbert Sengugwa told the participants that “What cannot be measured, cannot be improved.” He said the issue of compliance, as stated under the law should always be respected in all government infrastructural programs. He warned against interfering with the environment and climate saying: “We either care about our environment or we die, we can’t just seat and talk about climate and environment lightly.”
