All foreign contractors awarded procurement deals shall be required
to partner with Ugandan subcontractors.
The proposal is contained in the amendments to the Public Procurement and
Disposal of Public Assets Act.
In the proposals, government seeks to favour local
contractors and local products during procurement.
The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (Amendment) Bill is now
before the Parliament Committee on Finance.
“We are now saying these sub-contractors are embedded in our laws so that if
there is a big procurement process, either externally, then it is mandatory to
have sub-contractors who are Ugandans,” said David Bahati, the Minister of
State for Finance (Planning), while appearing before the House Committee on
Tuesday, 20 August 2019.
This, Bahati said, will promote government’s efforts in the Buy Uganda Build
Uganda (BUBU) campaign because it will now be backed by law.
“We have been negotiating and persuading companies to incorporate BUBU but now
we want to put it in the law. We want to try as much as possible to deepen BUBU
in all our operations as government, and the best place to start from is in our
systems of procurement,” Bahati explained.
Similarly, the Bill proposes to reserve certain procurements for youth, women
and people with disabilities.
“This issue keeps coming when approving loans before the House, we are always
asked to have a provision for special interest groups but if it is not backed
by law, it will be hard to achieve the desired goal,” Bahati said.
Legislators on the Finance Committee were however dissatisfied with the
proposal to allow the Secretary to Treasury to issue guidance on how two or
more government entities can collaborate to acquire services or products.
Hon Judith Franca Akello (FDC, Agago) recommended that the Bill should clearly
stipulate the roles of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic
Development and the PPDA.
The Chairperson of the Finance Committee, Henry Musasizi, advised Ministry of
Finance, Planning and Economic Development to stick to provision of guidance on
all public procurements as stipulated in the law.
