Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) has halted an accountability hearing involving the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), saying the official appearing before the committee had not been formally designated as the bureau’s accounting officer. The committee on Wednesday declined to interact with URSB officials over queries raised by the Auditor General for the 2024/2025 financial year, after establishing that Acting Registrar General Mustapha Ntale had not been formally appointed to take over the accounting responsibilities of the officer currently on mandatory leave.
The URSB team told MPs that several senior officials, including Registrar General Mercy Kainobwisho and Deputy Registrar General and Accounting Officer Alex Anganya, had been sent on mandatory leave effective August 17, 2026. The decision followed President Yoweri Museveni’s directive for investigations into allegations of corruption, maladministration and governance challenges at the bureau.
Ntale told the committee that Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Norbert Mao had directed him to perform the functions of Registrar General while the affected officials were away. However, COSASE Chairperson Muwada Nkunyingi questioned whether the minister’s directive gave Ntale the legal authority to act as URSB’s accounting officer.
He said although Ntale had been directed to perform the functions of Registrar General, the formal designation of an accounting officer falls under the authority of the Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury (PSST).
The committee demanded evidence that the PSST had formally appointed Ntale, or another official, to assume the accounting responsibilities of Anganya. URSB officials told the committee that they had written to the Accountant General requesting a change of accounting officer following Anganya’s mandatory leave.
But the committee rejected the correspondence, saying it did not amount to formal confirmation of the appointment and therefore did not provide a sufficient legal basis for COSASE to proceed with the accountability hearing.
Nkunyingi said Parliament could not interrogate an official over the management of public resources without first establishing that the officer had the legal mandate to account for the institution. The committee consequently declined to proceed with the interface, despite URSB officials being ready to respond to the Auditor General’s queries.
The standoff comes as URSB faces a separate investigation by the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) into allegations of corruption, maladministration and governance failures.
URSB officials told the committee that an IGG team has been deployed at the bureau and is currently conducting investigations, with management providing the requested documents and other assistance. They said the bureau continues to operate normally despite the investigation.
COSASE said the ongoing probe makes strict adherence to constitutional and statutory requirements even more important, particularly for officials currently performing duties in an acting capacity.
The committee warned that it would be “suicidal” for acting officials to transact business without first establishing the legal authority under which they are operating. According to the committee, officials currently running URSB must avoid taking financial or administrative decisions that could compound the accountability concerns already raised by the Auditor General.
Among the issues COSASE had planned to scrutinise are the absence of insurance cover for non-current assets, inconsistencies in the dates of acquisition and use of assets, an alleged 289.1 million Shillings overstatement of non-tax revenue, failure to absorb allocated funds and inaccurate performance reporting.
The committee also intended to question URSB over repeated outages of the Online Business Registration System (OBRS), inadequate fraud-prevention mechanisms, weak ICT governance, delayed ISO 9001:2015 certification and dependence on vendors.
The Auditor General further found that 79 per cent of sampled government trademarks had not been registered, potentially exposing government brands, symbols and service marks to unauthorised use.
Nkunyingi said COSASE was guided by evidence and would seek to establish not only whether the Auditor General’s findings were accurate, but also who should be held responsible where financial losses or administrative failures are confirmed. The committee said it would resume the accountability interface with URSB after receiving formal confirmation of the accounting officer from the competent authority. The hearing has been rescheduled for next week-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
