07-08 June 2018, Kampala, Uganda – The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a Specialised Agency of the African Union (AU), was adopted by Member States of the AU primarily as a self-monitoring mechanism designed to promote policies, standards and practices that will lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and economic integration in Africa. As at June 2018, the APRM comprises of 37 Member States who have voluntarily acceded to the Mechanism.

Uganda is one of the pioneer countries to accede to the APRM in March 2003 and to commence its implementation right away. Uganda was first peer-reviewed at the APR Forum meeting of 29th June 2008 in Sharm El Shiekh, Egypt, making it the seventh country to do so. When Uganda was peer-reviewed a second time at the APR Forum Summit of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January 2018, it was only the second country to do so, next only to Kenya.

Following the second peer review in January 2018, an APRM delegation, led by Bishop Dinis Sengulane, Lead APR Panel Member for Uganda, and including members of the APRM Secretariat staff, undertook a Follow-up Mission from 07 to 08 June 2018 in Uganda. The Mission met with H.E. President Yoweri Museveni, Hon. David Bahati, Minister of State in charge of National Planning and APRM Focal Point for Uganda, as well as members of the APRM National Governing Council, led by its Acting-Chairperson Dr Sallie Simba Kayunga.

At the conclusion of the Follow-Up Mission, while the Uganda second-round report was welcomed as a balanced and high-quality report, it was also agreed that:

(a) A revised set of government comments will be submitted to the APRM Secretariat by end of June 2018, which will be appended to the country review report when it is published;
(b) Considering the significant developments recorded since the second peer review, the APR Panel shall be free to use the “Foreword from the Chairperson” section of the report to highlight them as appropriate;
(c) The APRM Secretariat shall expedite the process of operationalising the decision taken on the Bottlenecks report along the two tracks envisaged therein: (i) to develop indicators in line with APRM tools, and then pilot them in selected countries; and (ii) to integrate the lessons learnt under each of the bottlenecks into the ongoing renewal of the APRM tools and processes, including the country self-assessment questionnaire and the review processes;
(d) The Secretariat shall submit to H. E. President Museveni, through Honourable David Bahati, the APRM Focal Point, an update on the progress of the bottlenecks project, along with a detailed roadmap, so H. E. the President may use it as an input for his update to peers at the forthcoming APR Forum; and
(e) Uganda would volunteer to become one of the first countries to undergo a targeted review based on a pilot of the newly approved bottlenecks, for which an MOU is expected to be signed at the January 2019 APR Forum summit.

Done in Kampala, Uganda on 08 June 2018