The Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation (UPPC) has warned the public that failure to comply with legal gazetting requirements could invalidate decisions and expose individuals and institutions to legal consequences.
The warning was issued on Wednesday, August 19, during a public awareness clinic at Soroti Public Gardens aimed at educating residents about the Uganda Gazette, the gazetting process and the consequences of non-compliance.
Alice Nazziwa, the Uganda Gazette Editor, said the Gazette is a legally recognised government publication through which laws, statutory notices and other information required by law are formally published.
It carries, among others, Acts of Parliament, legal notices, deed polls, special certificates of title, trademarks, school boards and school management committees.“A gazette is a legal document. If the law requires you to gazette and you do not adhere to the law, then it means you are failing to comply with the law,” Nazziwa said.
She singled out school boards and school management committees, saying the Education Act requires them to be gazetted before they begin their work.
Nazziwa warned that decisions made by a school board that has not been gazetted as required could have serious legal implications.“If a school board is not gazetted as required by the law, it means that whatever decision they make for that school is null and void. It is actually illegal,” she said.
She said head teachers have a responsibility to ensure that their respective school boards and management committees are properly gazetted, warning that failure to comply could also have implications for their employment.
Nazziwa said UPPC’s public awareness campaign is intended to address limited public knowledge about the Uganda Gazette and protect members of the public from fraudsters posing as UPPC officials or agents. She said the corporation had moved its sensitisation campaign from the Busoga region to Teso and plans to extend it to other parts of the country.Between 2024 and the last three years, there has been some progress, but compliance is still low. That is why we want to ensure that people comply,” Nazziwa said.
She also encouraged members of the public with discrepancies in their names on official documents to use the gazetting process to legally correct or change their names.
Nazziwa said a deed poll is used for legal notices relating to changes or corrections of names, noting that discrepancies can create difficulties when people seek government services and benefits, including pensions.
“If you want to add a name or correct a name, please come to us so we can help you have your name changed according to your wish,” she said.
The Uganda Gazette is published every Friday, except when the publication date falls on a public holiday, in which case an Extraordinary Gazette may be issued earlier.
The publication is not free. Nazziwa said the current gazetting fee for a secondary school board is 650,000 shillings, with schools whose notices are published receiving two complimentary copies.
Individual copies of the Gazette are sold at 5,000 shillings.
Soroti Resident District Commissioner Haji Imran Muluga welcomed the UPPC outreach, saying bringing gazetting services closer to the public would reduce the difficulties associated with accessing them from Kampala and Entebbe.
Muluga urged residents from Soroti and the wider Teso sub-region to use the clinic to seek clarification on gazetting requirements, including the publication of political leaders, laws and name changes.
He said the initiative was particularly important for people who have previously had to rely on lawyers to navigate the gazetting process.Services should be brought nearer to the people,” Muluga said.
Muluga said there were plans to establish regional services in Soroti City, which would also benefit residents of neighbouring districts such as Kumi, Bukedea and Kapelebyong.
He encouraged local publishers and schools to explore opportunities to work with UPPC in producing books and other publications.
He also challenged journalists to help disseminate information about UPPC services to the public.
Some residents who attended the clinic said they had previously struggled to resolve discrepancies in their names on official documents. Emulu Andrew, a farmer, said he learnt about the UPPC clinic through radio and attended after discovering that his mother had encountered difficulties because she shared names with another person.
She hasn’t yet benefited from some grants like NSSF. That pushed me to come and inquire, and I have got the necessary guidance from UPPC,” he said.
Emulu said he was pleased to receive guidance before his mother approaches retirement, allowing the family to begin correcting the discrepancy early.
Another resident, Lona Ati, said she sought assistance after her retired nurse mother encountered difficulties accessing her benefits because the names on her appointment records differed from those on her national identity card.
“When I went to follow up on her grants, they told me she had mismatching names. But when I heard on the radio about the UPPC, I came to get consultations and answers,” she said.
Ati said the outreach had provided her with the information needed to begin correcting the discrepancies.
UPPC says it will continue with public sensitisation activities in other regions as it seeks to improve compliance with gazetting requirements and protect the public from fraudsters-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
