KAMPALA — A major shake-up has hit the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), with five top executives, including Registrar General Mercy Kainobwisho, ordered to leave office temporarily as investigations into alleged corruption, financial irregularities and abuse of office gather pace.
The affected officials were handed mandatory-leave letters on Friday, August 14, shortly after forensic auditors descended on the Bureau’s Kampala headquarters to scrutinise its financial, procurement, registration and technology operations.
The officials are Kainobwisho, the Registrar General; Gilbert Agaba, Commissioner for Business Registration; Walid Kule, Assistant Commissioner for Business Registration; Arthur Kwesiga, Commissioner for ICT; and Alex Anganya, Deputy Registrar General in charge of Finance and Administration.
Their departure from active duty effectively leaves a sizeable gap at the top of an institution whose work is central to Uganda’s business and commercial environment.
The decision is also unfolding against a backdrop of reported friction within URSB’s senior management, with disagreements among top officials said to have increasingly affected the way the Bureau makes and implements decisions.
The mandatory leave, however, should not be interpreted as a declaration that the officials committed any offence. It is an administrative measure intended to give investigators room to conduct their work without possible interference.
Forensic audit opens new chapter
The deployment of forensic auditors has brought renewed attention to URSB’s internal systems, particularly its procurement processes, financial controls, ICT investments and registration operations.
The latest action also comes amid allegations previously raised from within the Bureau itself.
Agaba, one of the officials now on leave, mounted a challenge against disciplinary action taken against him in a July 29 letter, in which he alleged that he had earlier alerted management to what he considered serious governance and accountability shortcomings.
His complaints touched on several areas of URSB’s operations.
Among them were alleged inflation of contracts for the development and maintenance of ICT systems, suspected money laundering associated with the Non-Individual Register project, alleged misuse of Bureau funds and irregular procurement.
Agaba also raised concerns about allegedly fraudulent registrations, inadequate financial controls and revenue that he claimed was not being fully collected.
He questioned the circumstances under which disciplinary proceedings against him were launched, arguing that they followed his decision to raise the governance concerns.
“I have reasonable grounds to believe that the investigations culminating in the impugned warning were neither impartial nor undertaken in good faith,” Agaba said.
He further claimed that the Attorney General regarded the issues as sufficiently serious to bring them to the attention of President Yoweri Museveni and the Inspectorate of Government.
According to Agaba, the Inspectorate subsequently opened investigations into the matters.
Previous IGG complaint resurfaces
The current scrutiny of URSB also comes against the backdrop of an earlier complaint investigated by the Inspectorate of Government.
In correspondence dated September 22, 2025, then Inspector General of Government Beti Kamya asked the Registrar General to respond to allegations involving a former URSB board secretary.
The complaint before the IGG alleged abuse of office, influence peddling and conflict of interest.
It also alleged that the former board secretary had assisted in the filing of a purportedly forged board resolution in a dispute involving a hotel.
Questions were further raised about URSB’s handling of a company application connected to the dispute.
Kamya asked URSB to provide explanations and relevant records to assist the IGG in its inquiry.
Those allegations remained matters for investigation and did not constitute a determination that the board secretary or any other official was guilty of wrongdoing.
What happens next?
The decision to sideline five senior managers places URSB under an unusually high level of institutional scrutiny.
The Bureau is responsible for some of Uganda’s most important registration functions, including the registration of companies and businesses, intellectual property, marriages and other civil records.
Its databases and registration systems are therefore fundamental to businesses, investors, government agencies and the wider public.
Any confirmed weaknesses in the management of those systems could have consequences for the credibility of business registration, public revenue collection and Uganda’s investment environment.
The investigations will now be expected to establish whether the allegations raised against URSB officials and systems are supported by evidence, whether public funds were lost and whether any officials should face further administrative, financial or criminal proceedings.
For the five officials, the mandatory leave does not amount to a conviction or finding of guilt. They have been temporarily removed from active duty while the authorities pursue the investigations.
The developments nonetheless represent a significant escalation in the scrutiny of Uganda’s corporate registration agency and could trigger further action depending on the findings of the ongoing inquiries.
It was previously claimed that URSB top officials were earning tens of millions in salaries every month, allegations that the bureau addressed Here.
See full salary structure for all government employee categories for the current financial year Here.
