By Joseph Kiggundu
President Museveni has ordered deep investigations into the Uganda Registration Services Bureau .
This follows allegations of financial misconduct and institutional mismanagement escalated from an internal disciplinary dispute involving one of the agency’s senior officials to a matter reaching State House.
In a July 24 letter to Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Norbert Mao, Museveni directed that Registrar General Mercy Kainobwisho, Assistant Commissioner for Business Registration Walid Kule, Commissioner for ICT Arthur Kwesiga and Deputy Registrar General for Finance and Administration Alex Anganya, among others, go on leave until an audit of URSB is completed.
In the same directive, Museveni ordered the Inspector General of Government to lead investigations with the assistance of State House auditors Kawawa and Tumwiine, while his Principal Private Secretary was instructed to bring URSB Board Chairman Ambassador Francis Butagira to him.
The order places the leadership of the government agency responsible for registering companies and businesses, administering intellectual property rights and providing other legal registration services under an unusually high level of presidential scrutiny.
It also dramatically escalates a dispute that had initially centred on Gilbert Agaba, the Commissioner for Business Registration, who had been facing disciplinary action from URSB management and the board before turning the allegations back on the institution.
The developments have exposed a bitter internal dispute at one of Uganda’s key public agencies and raised questions over competing allegations of misconduct, the handling of whistleblowing complaints and how an administrative disagreement involving a senior official eventually triggered a presidentially ordered audit.
The controversy centres on Agaba, whose relationship with URSB management and the board deteriorated over complaints about his leadership of the Business Registration Department before he himself raised allegations of criminal conduct and financial impropriety against the institution’s management.
According to documents seen by Nile Post, the dispute had been building for months before it reached the Attorney General and ultimately President Museveni.
On July 24, Museveni wrote to Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Norbert Mao directing that several senior URSB officials be sent on leave until an audit of the bureau was completed.
The presidential letter, which drew red lines on embezzlement, abuse of office and maladministration, money laundering and institutional mismanagement at URSB, instructed the Inspector General of Government to lead the investigations with assistance from State House auditors Kawawa and Tumwiine.
URSB, which had initially denied reports that its senior officials were being sent on leave, on Monday, August 17, confirmed that an audit was underway.
The bureau said the exercise was being conducted in accordance with established procedures and applicable laws, but did not disclose its scope or identify the officials affected.
“URSB assures its clients, partners and the general public that service delivery remains uninterrupted,” the bureau said in its holding statement shared by communications manager Steven Douglas Baryevuga.
The confirmation came after reports that senior officials had been ordered to step aside as auditors examined the agency.
According to an internal brief cited in documents seen by Nile Post, concerns about Agaba’s leadership had existed before the current crisis.
For months, URSB management and Agaba had been locked in a disagreement over his leadership of the Business Registration Department, with management accusing him of poor supervision, inadequate coordination, failure to implement management decisions and insubordination.
The internal disciplinary process, however, took an unexpected direction when Agaba began raising allegations against the institution itself.
He first raised concerns with URSB Board Chairman Francis Butagira before referring substantially similar allegations to external authorities, including the Economic Crimes Division of the Uganda Police Force and the Office of the Attorney General.
Agaba argued that he had been sanctioned and served with a memo because he had complained about corruption, abuse of office and conflict of interest against certain managers.
“I have reasonable grounds to believe that the investigations culminating in the impugned warning were neither impartial nor undertaken in good faith,” he fired back on July 29.
“It is disconcerting that the said investigations commenced immediately after I raised my concerns to the Registrar General regarding the governance and accountability issues within the department and the Bureau.”
He cited allegations of inflation of contracts for development and maintenance of ICT systems, money laundering through the non-individual register project, embezzlement and misappropriation of the Bureau’s funds for unauthorised expenditure, and irregular or illegal procurements, fraudulent registrations, weak internal financial controls and under-collection of revenue.
The allegations contained in Agaba’s letter and arguments in the fallout were not new.
On September 22, 2025, then IGG Beti Kamya directed the Registrar General to explain the allegations of abuse of office, influence peddling and conflict of interest that had been made against Ms Caroline Tusingwire Egesa, who was the Board Secretary of Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) at the time.
Kamya said Ms Tusingwire had been accused by a whistleblower of aiding the filing of a forged Board resolution appointing herself and her accomplice, Ms Ovia Byarugaba Kasheegu, as Directors of Nob View Hotel Limited.
“The Registrar General of URSB refused to act on Company Application No. 36375 of 2024 which sought to rectify the alleged forgeries and fraud committed by Ms Caroline Tusingwire Egesa as illegal Directors in Nob View Hotel Limited,” Kamya wrote.
“Instead, the Registrar General proceeded with the alleged illegal application by Ms Ovia Byarugaba Kasheegu which sought to unlawfully cancel the Applicants’ rights as Shareholders in Nob View Hotel Limited.”
Like many of Kamya’s investigations, this matter, too, went quiet and appeared to have suffered stillbirth. Only that the simmering conflict in the URSB boardrooms was not about to allow its burial.
Agaba took the matter to Attorney General Sam Mayanja, who subsequently wrote to Amb Butagira on July 8, saying he was aware that Agaba had brought to the board’s attention alleged criminal activities taking place at URSB.
He said he had escalated the matters to President Museveni for guidance.
The Attorney General then directed the URSB board to stop its own investigations into Agaba and wait for presidential guidance.
“This is to direct that you and the URSB Board cease all investigations/inquiries into Mr. Agaba and await the guidance of His Excellency the President,” Mayanja wrote.
Mr Museveni, who is understood to have been briefed on the former IGG’s investigations into the same allegations Agaba was fighting back against, cracked the whip three weeks later on July 24, with the senior officials ordered to leave their positions while the audit was underway.
The IGG-led investigation is now expected to provide the evidence needed to answer that question.