Tackling Illicit Financial Flows

The dialogue on the theme, “Protecting Uganda’s Development Finance and the Tenfold Growth Ambition” was co-convened by Office of the Prime Minister, the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) and the Embassy of Netherlands in Kampala on 20 August 2026.

The participants included representatives from Government, Ministries, Agencies and Departments including, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development; Financial Intelligence Authority; Bank of Uganda and Uganda Revenue Authority; while representatives from the United Nations system included the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Office and Drugs and Crime (UNODC), UN Women, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). There were also representatives of development partners; private sector, civil society and academia

The purpose of the dialogue was to build a shared policy position on how Uganda can strengthen financial integrity, reduce illicit financial flows and protect the resources required to deliver the Tenfold Growth Strategy.

In remarks he delivered on behalf of the Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister, the Assistant Commissioner for Monitoring and Evaluation in Local Governments, Mr. Nathan Otutut, noted that “as Uganda seeks to grow its economy tenfold, we must confront a simple reality: we cannot mobilise our way to transformation while significant resources continue to leak out of the economy.”

“The background to this dialogue estimates that Uganda may be losing more than UGX 2 trillion annually through illicit financial flows and related financial leakages. These figures represent resources that could finance infrastructure, productive sectors, schools, health facilities, Local Governments and better services for our citizens,” observed Otutut.

“Our Tenfold Growth ambition therefore requires us to do three things at the same time: mobilise more, retain more and invest better. We must expand the resources available to finance Uganda’s development. But we must also strengthen our ability to protect those resources and ensure that they are productively deployed within the economy. That is why tackling illicit financial flows is not simply an anti-corruption, tax or compliance issue. It is fundamentally a development financing issue,” noted Otutut.

In his remarks UN Resident Coordinator, Mr. Leonard Zulu noted that, “sustainable development financing is not only about expanding the financing envelope; it is also about closing the leakages that deprive the economy of its growth potential. Illicit financial flows—including those associated with trade mis-invoicing, corruption, money laundering and tax-related abuses—can undermine domestic resource mobilisation, distort markets, weaken institutions and deprive the country of resources needed for development.”

“Every resource lost through illicit channels represents an opportunity cost. It means fewer resources for education and health, infrastructure and productive sectors, opportunities for young people and entrepreneurs, and building resilience to climate and other shocks,” he added.

Key emerging issues were the need to improve methods of measuring illicit financial flows, in order to track them better. It was noted that illicit financial flows were multi-dimensional and required action of various actors to be addressed effectively, highlighting the importance of coordination within government and with other stakeholders. 

It was observed the large percentage of informal and unregistered businesses In Uganda made it difficult to track illicit financial flows and therefore the formalization and registration of business would contribute to tracking illicit financial flows.

It was observed that online trading, particularly in crypto currencies, made it difficult for authorities to track online illicit financial flows. Furthermore, it was noted that online criminals kept coming up with new innovations, and it was therefore necessary for law enforcement and other stakeholders to keep advancing their skills to keep ahead of the criminals.

The dialogue recommended practical reforms to tackle illicit financial flows including strengthening coordination among both state and non-state actors.

The dialogue participants agreed on the following actions:

1. Improve the methods of measuring the value of illicit financial flows

2. Develop a National Strategy

3. Monitor and Evaluate efforts to stop illicit financial flows

4. Use technology to tackle illicit financial flows