In public investment, the biggest threat is rarely the project itself it is what happens after approval. Costs quietly expand, designs are revised, and budgets drift far beyond their original intent. This “scope creep” has long drained public funds and distorted national planning.
On April 7, 2026, Uganda’s Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development moved to shut that door.
In a directive issued by Ramathan Ggoobi, the government introduced strict controls to lock project costs from feasibility to execution. The goal is simple: stop projects from mutating into something more expensive than what was approved.
“Unauthorized changes in scope… undermine project affordability and lead to over-commitment of the Development Budget.”
At the center of the reform is a hard 15% rule.
Any project whose cost rises more than 15% above its feasibility estimate must be stopped immediately. It cannot proceed unless it undergoes a full reappraisal under the Public Investment Management framework. In short, once a project is approved, its cost is no longer flexible it is controlled.
Design changes, often the silent driver of cost inflation, are also being restricted. Approved designs are now expected to hold, preventing constant revisions that inflate budgets without adding real value.
The discipline continues even after contracts are signed. Under reinforced procurement rules aligned with the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority framework, contract variations are tightly capped. No single variation can exceed 15% of the original contract value, and total variations cannot go beyond 25%.
This closes a long-standing loophole where projects would be underpriced at award stage, only to expand later through add-ons.
The broader shift is cultural as much as it is technical. Government is moving from “estimated budgets” to “enforced budgets.”
Oversight has also been strengthened. PPDA will actively track compliance and report directly to the Treasury. More critically, accountability is no longer abstract.
“Accounting Officers shall be held personally accountable for any breach.”
This changes the risk equation inside government. Cost overruns are no longer just institutional failures they are personal ones.
The 15% firewall is not just a procurement rule. It is a fiscal control mechanism designed to protect limited public resources, restore discipline in project execution, and ensure that development spending delivers real value.