Budget allocation alone can be a poorindicator of the quality and quantity of public servicedelivered on the frontline in countries with weakinstitutions. While shifting of budgetary resources topriority sectors is a good first step, it is crucial toascertain where and how the allocated sum gets spent. The1996 Uganda-World Bank attempt at tracking publicexpenditure in primary education (and health) has revealed aset of surprising findings, prompting fresh thinking onissues such as service "capture",decentralization, cost efficiency, and accountability. ThePublic Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS), as quantitativeexercises separate from, but complementary to qualitativesurveys on the perception of consumers on service delivery,have been found to be very influential in highlighting theuse and abuse of public money. In the absence of a stronginstitutional infrastructure to manage information flow,surveys such as the one done in Uganda has been seen to notonly provide a realistic portrayal of the status of demandand supply of services but also prompt creation of costeffective mechanisms of public accountability through, forexample, information dissemination on resource allocationand use.
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