Planning Authority decries absence of a data resource centre

Planning Authority decries absence of a data resource centre

Al-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA

KAMPALA. Uganda is still faced with poor planning because the country lacks a one -stop data resource centre from which information of sectors can be obtained  to inform appropriate planning, an official at National Planning Authority has said.

Dr Abel Rwendeire, the deputy chairman National Planning Authority, said lack of an open data initiative has also frustrated participatory planning and citizens’ involvement in budget processes.

Open data is a philosophy and practice requiring that certain data be freely available to everyone, without restrictions from copyright or government.

“When budgeting, the budget must be according to plans and plans depend on available data. Although we need a lot of data when planning, we fail to access it because it is scattered. This forces us to use statistics which are not appropriate,” Dr Rwendeire said

He was addressing an Africa Counts Roundtable Forum on Open Development that was organised by Development Research and Training (DRT) and Development Initiatives (DI) in Kampala last week.

The ‘Africa Counts’ round tables are multi-stakeholder forums designed to stimulate constructive dialogue amongst civil society, media, government and academia. The purpose is to influence the allocation of resources and ensure poverty eradication is prioritised in the East Africa region.

Dr Rwendeire gave an example of Uganda’s economy which depends on agriculture but the country lacks coherent data on the sector to help better planning and investment.

“Introducing an Open Data initiative in Uganda is long overdue,” he said adding, “As government, we have not been forthcoming in sharing information. I can understand in some cases the reluctance comes because of the sensitivity of information, but we must put information in the open space were all citizens can access it to participate in planning for the country,”

Margret Kakande, the director of Budget Monitoring and Accountability unit of the Ministry of Finance said the Open Data initiative is a powerful tool in empowering citizens to ask for accountability.

“People can’t demand when they don’t know,”she said.

Denial of access to information is a common practice in Uganda despite constitutional guarantees for the right to information and the adoption of an Access to Information Act in 2005. Government in 2011  signed into law new regulations for implementing the Act, stating procedures for citizens on how to access information from public offices but accessing such information it is still a problem due to the bureaucratic  system in government departments .

Article 41 of the Constitution also states that "Every citizen has a right to access information in the possession of the state or any other organ or agency of the state except where the release of the information is likely to prejudice the security or sovereignty of the state or interfere with the right to the privacy of any other person."