By Johannah Nantongo
Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oboth has urged parliamentary institutions and programme partners to improve coordination in planning, budgeting and executing Parliament’s legislative, oversight and representation responsibilities, saying review recommendations must lead to measurable results.
Oboth made the call on Thursday, October 22, 2026, while opening the annual review workshop for the Legislation, Oversight and Representation (LOR) Programme for the 2025/2026 financial year at Parliament.
He said the programme should be treated as a unified undertaking, with partners jointly planning activities, allocating resources and assessing performance to ensure parliamentary work delivers meaningful benefits to Ugandans.
According to Oboth, effective lawmaking, scrutiny of public expenditure and representation of citizens’ interests are essential to translating government commitments into better services and improved livelihoods.
The workshop, the first annual review under the 12th Parliament, assessed the programme’s performance during the first year of implementing the Fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV) and the government’s Tenfold Growth Strategy.
Oboth challenged participants to establish whether legislation at national and local government levels was progressing as expected, whether parliamentary oversight was producing tangible improvements and whether citizens’ priorities were adequately reflected in budget allocations.
He identified three areas requiring attention: integrating the programme into the government’s Programme-Based Planning and Budgeting framework, strengthening collective responsibility among participating institutions and improving evidence-based implementation through reliable data, measurable indicators and timely reporting.
The Speaker also called for closer collaboration with the Office of the Prime Minister, the National Planning Authority and other programme stakeholders to ensure that review findings inform decisions and improve public service delivery.
Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa said the workshop had evaluated the programme’s alignment with national development priorities, its institutional arrangements, implementation progress and performance during the 2025/2026 financial year.
He noted that contributions from participating institutions, including the assessment presented by the Office of the Prime Minister, would help identify gaps and guide improvements in implementation.
Tayebwa emphasised the need for programme partners to jointly plan, budget, execute and report on agreed results. He said responsibility for delivering the programme should be shared across all participating institutions rather than left to the secretariat alone.
He urged the programme secretariat to consolidate proposals generated during the workshop and incorporate them into the implementation action plan covering the 2025/2026 to 2029/2030 financial years, as well as the next planning and budgeting cycle.
Tayebwa further called on participants to take the agreed recommendations back to their respective institutions and ensure that the commitments made during the review are implemented.
He thanked the Clerk to Parliament, the Parliamentary Commission, facilitators, presenters, the National Planning Authority and the Office of the Prime Minister for supporting the review process.
The two parliamentary leaders said effective coordination, shared accountability and consistent monitoring would be critical to strengthening the LOR Programme and ensuring that Parliament’s legislative, oversight and representation functions respond more effectively to citizens’ needs.