By Mulengera Reporters
The IGG Aisha Naluzze Batala has written to Justice & Constitutional Affairs Minister Norbert Mao showing displeasure over his perceived attempts to persecute Registration Services Commissioner Gilbert Agaba, whose whistle blowing information resulted into the implication and purging of top officials at Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), including the Registrar General Mercy Kainobwisho.
Kainobwisho, who had portrayed herself as a star performer and reformist at URSB until the scandal exploded last August, was subsequently forced out of office along with four other top executives.
The purging was effected on 17th August 2026 when the URSB line Minister Mao communicated in writing to the effect that they go on forced leave. Apparently, Mao, who was fond of Kainobwisho because he considered her to be a star performer, reluctantly acted after the IGG wrote to him insisting on the same.
It was prudent for Kainobwisho to be suspended/forced out of office to ensure there was no interference with the investigations the IGG had commenced into her conduct as Registrar General or head of URSB. The President, upon being moved by the Attorney General Dr. Sam Mayanja to whom the whistle blower had complained, instigated the IGG to get involved in a bid to authenticate Mr. Gilbert Agaba’s claims.
On Saturday 17th October, it reached 2 months since Kainobwisho and four others were first put under forced leave as per Mao’s 17th August letter decreeing the same. Being on leave for that long could raise audit queries in future, because two months exceeds the statutory annual leave to which the affected URSB officials are ordinarily entitled.
As a way forward to mitigate against such future audit queries, the IGG has now directed Norbert Mao to escalate the same to an interdiction impacting Kainobwisho and the other four (Walid Kule, Arthur Kwesiga & Alex Anganya). It has been directed by the IGG that Kainobwisho remains indefinitely interdicted “until completion of our investigations or advised otherwise by this office.”
This latest escalation by the IGG diminishes hopes of Kainobwisho ever bouncing back to powerfully serve as the Registrar General of Uganda and the overall head of URSB. Top public officials have seldom bounced back to head government MDAs after being interdicted.
In the same letter, the IGG calls out Minister Norbert Mao for “victimizing” Mr. Gilbert Agaba, the whistle blower who is protected and not supposed to be persecuted under Section 9 of the Whistle Blowers Act Cap 34. Mao is reminded that what was revealed by the whistle blower amounted to “a protected disclosure” of information which became the basis of sanctioning targeting Kainobwisho and the other four.
The IGG makes it clear it was wrong for Mao to have occasioned any “adverse measures” against Mr. Agaba by placing him under mandatory leave, which was unwarranted. The IGG asserts this amounted to victimization and discriminatory treatment against Mr. Agaba, contrary to Section 9(2) of the Whistle Blowers Act.
Naluzze bluntly puts it to Mao directly that what he did amounted to “victimization” of Agaba ostensibly to avenge the “protected disclosures” that some considered hostile to their continued stay at URSB.
Naluzze also brands Mao’s actions against Agaba “irregular” as there was no need to force him to go for “mandatory leave” which has kept him away now for more than two months. That such measures were appropriate for officials who are under investigations (Kainobwisho & Co), and Mr. Gilbert Agaba was never among them because he wasn’t under investigations.
Accordingly, the URSB Board Chairman Ambassador Francis Butagira has been directed to “ensure that Gilbert Agaba resumes the full functions and duties of the office of the Commissioner Registration Services at the Bureau, with immediate effect.” (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
