When Finance Minister Henry Musasizi rises in Parliament convening at Kololo today to read the National Budget for the 2026/2027 financial year, many Ugandans will be off TV and will not bother. They will be going about their businesses as usual. Research done by the Ministry of Finance a couple of years back indicated that the majority of Ugandans do not care about the Budget. Budget speeches, after all, are often viewed as technical affairs for economists, politicians and civil servants.
But that is a mistake. The Budget being read today is not about government. It is about you. Every shilling allocated, borrowed, spent or wasted affects the life of an ordinary Ugandan. The Budget determines the quality of roads you drive on, the medicines available at your health centre, the classroom your child studies in, the electricity that powers your business and the opportunities available to young people seeking employment.
More importantly, much of the money being discussed today comes from citizens themselves. Every time you buy airtime, fuel your vehicle, purchase household goods, pay school fees through taxed services, or operate a business, you contribute to government revenue. Whether directly or indirectly, Ugandans finance the State through taxes. This means citizens are not spectators in the Budget process. They are investors.
The government may collect the money, but it does so on behalf of the people. Parliament may approve expenditure, but it spends resources that belong to the public. Public officials may administer the funds, but they are merely custodians. When government secures loans from development partners or international financial institutions, it is not borrowing for anybody else but in the name of Ugandans. The debt incurred today will be repaid by citizens through current and future taxes. The child in primary school today may one day help pay for loans contracted before reaching adulthood.
That is why debt should concern every Ugandan, not just financial experts. Likewise, whenever public funds are mismanaged, stolen or wasted, the loss is not government’s. It is the loss for taxpayers. It is a health centre that remains unequipped. It is a classroom that is never built. It is a road that remains impassable. It is a young person who misses an opportunity because resources were diverted elsewhere.
As Ugandans listen to today’s Budget speech, they should, therefore, ask simple but important questions: How will this spending improve lives? Will borrowed money generate value for future generations? Are public resources being used efficiently? Who will be held accountable when programmes fail? The Budget is not a gift from government to citizens. It is a plan for managing citizens’ resources. Whether the money is spent on roads, hospitals, schools, agriculture, security, debt repayment or government administration, it belongs to the people first. Every allocation should, therefore, be judged according to one standard: does it serve the Ugandan taxpayer?
The figures that will be announced today are tens of trillions of shillings, but behind every number is a citizen. Behind every tax collected is someone’s hard work. Behind every loan contracted is a future obligation. Behind every wasted shilling is a missed opportunity.