KAMPALA — Five senior officials of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) have been sent on mandatory leave as investigations into alleged corruption, financial impropriety and abuse of office at the government agency deepen.
The affected officials are Mercy Kainobwisho, the Registrar General; Gilbert Agaba, Commissioner for Business Registration; Walid Kule, Assistant Commissioner for Business Registration; Arthur Kwesiga, Commissioner for ICT and Innovation; and Alex Anganya, Deputy Registrar General for Finance and Administration. Their positions are also listed on URSB’s official management page.
URSB confirmed on Monday that an audit is underway following the decision to send the five officials on leave, although the Bureau did not publicly disclose the specific allegations against each individual.
The action follows a directive from President Museveni, according to documents and reports cited by local media. A State House letter dated July 24, 2026, reportedly directed the officials to step aside pending an audit into the affairs of the Bureau.
The investigations are being conducted amid allegations including embezzlement of government funds, abuse of office, maladministration, money laundering, irregular procurement and institutional mismanagement.
The Inspectorate of Government and State House auditors are reportedly involved in examining the allegations.
Agaba complaints trigger scrutiny
The probe follows concerns reportedly raised by Gilbert Agaba, the Commissioner for Business Registration, who complained about governance and accountability failures within URSB.
According to reports, Agaba raised allegations involving the management of funds, procurement processes and financial controls, prompting intervention at the highest level of government.
The circumstances have placed Agaba among the officials sent on leave despite being the source of some of the complaints under investigation.
URSB has said its operations and services remain uninterrupted while the audit proceeds.
Senior leadership affected
The investigation has temporarily removed much of URSB’s senior management from their normal duties.
Kainobwisho, who has served as Registrar General and chief executive of URSB, has overseen the Bureau’s business-registration, intellectual-property and other statutory functions. URSB’s official profile describes her as the Registrar General, Official Receiver, Chief Executive and Accounting Officer.
Anganya, the Deputy Registrar General for Finance and Administration, is a certified public accountant and professional auditor who previously headed URSB’s internal audit function.
Kainobwisho and several of the other officials have also featured prominently in URSB’s recent expansion and reform agenda. The Bureau reported cumulative non-tax revenue collections of Shs311.08 billion over the previous five financial years, compared with Shs193.46 billion in the preceding five-year period.
The latest developments therefore put the financial and administrative systems behind the agency’s recent performance under scrutiny.
For now, none of the five officials has been publicly convicted of any offence, and being sent on leave is not itself a finding of wrongdoing. The audit and investigations are expected to establish whether the allegations have sufficient evidence to warrant further administrative or criminal action.
