Category: Daily Monitor

The State has strongly opposed a bail application filed by the former Butambala County Member of Parliament, Mr. Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, and 24 co-accused individuals who are currently facing grave charges of terrorism.

The prosecution team arguments-delivered via a sworn affidavit-asserted that criminal investigations into the matter are still active, warning that the applicants are highly likely to interfere with state witnesses and jeopardise the judicial process if they are released back into the public.

The high-stakes bail hearing proceeded on Monday before Justice Susan Okalany at the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court in Kampala.

The session was marked by an unusual turn of events when state attorneys failed to appear on time. The court learned that the prosecutors were tied up attending separate, high-profile proceedings in a treason case involving veteran opposition politician, Dr. Kizza Besigye, at the main division of the High Court.

Although the prosecution had communicated that they would arrive by 11:00 am, the courtroom clock struck midday without any sign of the state representatives. Refusing to let the judicial machinery grind to a halt, Justice Okalany chose to forge ahead.

‘We can proceed. They will find us along the way,’ Justice Okalany ruled, allowing the defense team to formally present their submissions.

Despite the physical absence of the state attorneys, the court provided the defence team with a copy of the State’s affidavit opposing the bail. The document was sworn by Detective Assistant Superintendent of Police (DASP) Johnmary Luwebuga, an investigating officer attached to Butambala Police Station.

Leading the defence team, prominent lawyer and Member of Parliament Medard Sseggona launched a scathing attack on the State’s written response, characterising it as lazy, generic, and completely detached from reality.

‘Mr. Luwebuga’s response is a mere ‘cut-and-paste’ job that is the exact same for all the applicants,’ Mr. Sseggona told the court, arguing that the omnibus rejection failed to address the unique circumstances of each individual suspect.

Mr. Sseggona further pointed out glaring contradictions in the prosecution’s paperwork regarding the residence of the accused persons.

‘The State claims that the applicants lack fixed places of abode, yet those very residential places are explicitly indicated on the state’s own charge sheet. That position is fundamentally contradictory and self-defeating,’ Sseggona submitted.

The defence stalwart also challenged the assertion that the accused persons would intimidate or compromise witnesses. He argued that the investigating officer had failed to lay even a shred of empirical evidence before the court to prove that any of the applicants had a history or intent of witness tampering.

In his affidavit, DASP Luwebuga implored the court to throw out the application, insisting it entirely lacked merit. He maintained that the volatile nature of the Butambala criminal case required the suspects to remain under lock and key.

‘The applicants will interfere with ongoing investigations and witnesses if this application is granted,’ Luwebuga’s affidavit read in part.

The investigating officer further contended that the applicants had failed to prove they owned established businesses or fixed residences, despite what they swore in their own affidavits. He also took issue with the sureties presented by the defense, labeling them “unsuitable” and warning that the accused persons are heavy flight risks who would likely abscond from justice.

In a highly personal twist, the State explicitly disputed Mr Kivumbi’s self-description as a law-abiding citizen and statesman.

‘It is not true that the applicant is a statesman,’ Luwebuga’s affidavit stated, adding that the former legislator is no longer the sitting MP for Butambala County, nor does he still chair Parliament’s influential Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE).

The State concluded that the heavy criminal charges strictly arose from the applicants’ alleged direct participation in lawless activities, urging the court to deny them freedom in the interest of public safety.

The applicants, who have been languishing on remand at Kitalya Mini Max Prison, Naguru Remand Home, and Luzira Women’s Prison, are seeking temporary freedom pending their trial.

Through their lawyers, they argue that they possess deep community ties, have substantial sureties, and have already spent months on remand without the prosecution formally committing their file to the High Court for trial.

The group was arrested following a wave of post-election violence that rocked Butambala District in January 2026. According to the prosecution, Kivumbi and his co-accused allegedly orchestrated coordinated, bloody attacks on Kibibi Police Station and the Butambala Electoral Commission tally centre between January 11 and January 17, 2026.

The state alleges the attacks were designed to intimidate the government for political or economic motives, resulting in the tragic deaths of seven people.

Hearing of the bail application continues.

A high-stakes land dispute has erupted in eastern Uganda, pitting a high-ranking law enforcement official against a fearful community.

Senior Commissioner of Police (SCP) Timothy Halango is under intense scrutiny in Kamuli District over allegations of attempting to aggressively seize a disputed 66-acre piece of land in Mawembe Zone, Kagumba Sub-county, reportedly under the guise of a legitimate legal purchase.

Mr Halango, a prominent figure who previously served as a member of the police disciplinary standby tribunal, currently holds the influential position of Deputy Director of the Directorate of Welfare, Production, and Sports within the Uganda Police Force. He is also well-known publicly as the Chairman of Police Football Club. Local residents, who comprise both sitting tenants and customary landlords, accuse the top officer of using his immense influence to evict them from the contested property.

The standoff reached a boiling point recently when angry residents and local leaders physically blocked a tractor hired by the Police Commissioner from ploughing the disputed fields, narrowly averting a violent confrontation.

The heart of the bitter dispute lies in the authenticity of the land ownership documents. Locals accuse Mr Halango of systematically destroying their crop gardens and orchestrating the forgery of land sale agreements over time to legitimize his occupation.

According to a resident who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, Mr Halango initially arrived in the area as an ordinary tenant, leasing land to engage in commercial sugarcane cultivation. The resident alleged that the Commissioner later colluded with a local council official to fabricate ownership documents.

‘The land sale agreement was fraudulently made by him together with the LCII chairperson. It is shocking that the document bears an official government stamp dated 2019, yet such official local government stamps were only introduced by the ministry in 2022. This is outright theft by trickery and is completely unacceptable,’ the anonymous resident alleged.

Furthermore, community members point out glaring anomalies in the paperwork, claiming that several individuals listed as witnesses on the disputed land sale agreement had actually passed away well before the death of the land’s original owner, Philip Oboi.

The controversy has already drawn casualties. On April 14, 2026, authorities in Kamuli detained George Batambule, the LCII chairperson of Kibuye Parish in Kagumba Sub-county. Batambule was arrested on the direct orders of the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) following a preliminary investigation into the alleged forgery of the 2019 land agreements.

Appearing before Kamuli Deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Mr Adonia Muguwa to defend his actions, SCP Halango vehemently denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that his acquisition of the land was entirely lawful and transparent.

Mr Halango explained to the district security committee that his relationship with the land began purely as a commercial tenancy agreement with the late Oboi. However, he claimed that before the lease expired, a cash-strapped Oboi offered to sell him portions of the estate across separate transactions.

According to Mr Halango’s timeline, the late Oboi sold him an initial 45 acres. Following Oboi’s death, his sons allegedly approached the commissioner for financial assistance.

“I do not have the mandate to resolve internal family disputes, but the same person who rented me the land is the one who later sold me the initial 45 acres,” Mr Halango defended. He added that when Oboi passed away, his sons requested an additional Shs 5 million to cater for burial expenses, promising him more land in return. In total, Halango claims he paid Shs 1.6 million per acre for 56.6 acres, leaving the family with just over 10 acres.

The late Oboi’s family strongly rejects the Commissioner’s narrative. Robinah Nakitende, an 80-year-old surviving widow who has lived on and cultivated the land since time immemorial, claimed that if any transaction occurred, it was an illegal inside job. She pointed fingers at her co-wife’s son, identified as Kasiba, accusing him of clandestinely conspiring with Halango to sell off the ancestral estate without the family’s consent.

“We received our designated shares from our husband during his lifetime. I am certain they concocted this fraudulent land sale agreement with the other side of the family. We shall pursue this matter to the very end,” Ms Nakitende stated firmly.

Political leaders have voiced deep concerns over the escalating situation, with Ms Justine Mpindi, the District Female Councillor for Kagumba Sub-county, noting that during Mzee Oboi’s public funeral, his children openly stated that their father had only leased the land to the officer for six years starting in 2019.

“Questions heavily remain about how a deceased man could suddenly return to sell him the very same land,” Mpindi noted, calling for urgent state intervention.

The involvement of a high-ranking police chief has reportedly compromised local law enforcement neutrality.

Mr Bernard Kempaka, the LCIII chairperson of Kagumba Sub-county, raised the alarm over what he described as institutional intimidation, revealing that residents are currently living in absolute terror.

“We find ourselves in direct conflict with district police officers who are threatening to arrest local tenants and leaders simply to appease their big boss in Kampala. This is a gross display of impunity. We are determined to resist this illegal intimidation, as mandated by the law,” Kempaka stated.

Mr Kempaka warned that if the harassment of locals by junior police officers does not cease immediately, leadership will bypass the regional command and escalate the petition directly to the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

In an attempt to defuse the volatile situation, Mr Muguwa has called for calm, reassuring terrified residents that the district security committee will convene an all-inclusive mediation meeting with all aggrieved parties, surveying surveyors, and legal representatives to ensure justice is served transparently.

In the last four years, Uganda’s housing deficit has averaged around or over two million units, a figure that has barely budged, even as the population grows by more than a million people annually.

It is not that nobody is building. Drive through Naguru, Kololo, or Nakasero, the emerging elite areas, on any given morning, and the cranes are hard to miss.

But the homes popping up are rarely for the 80 percent of Ugandans economists call lower- and middle-income earners, which is to say, most people.

We examine the demand side: why those who need homes most cannot access the financing to get one, and what is beginning to change.

The second will tackle the supply side: why developers are not building enough for them, and what it would take to make them.

The arithmetic of exclusion

Uganda’s median urban worker earns between Shs220,000 and Shs230,000 a month. Rural incomes are lower still, at around Shs168,000.

To house someone at that level, the National Planning Authority estimates a home would need to cost between Shs14m and Shs24m. Nobody is building there.

What the market calls ‘affordable housing’ starts at around Shs90m and stretches to Shs350m and beyond, a label that, as the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Deputy Managing Director Gerald Kasaato says, is ‘always going to be a very, very difficult thing to achieve against those kinds of numbers.’

Bridging that gap, therefore, requires a functioning mortgage market, patient capital, and a government willing to act on policy levers it has long left untouched.

Mortgages require payslips, documented salaries, and formal credit histories, things that most Ugandans have none of. Of 9.3 million workers, only about one million qualify for mainstream lending because their income is known monthly.

Broll Managing Director Moses Lutalo describes a mortgage market that is ‘almost comically thin.’

‘Fewer than 40,000 mortgages exist in a country of over 50 million people. Mortgage debt accounts for less than 1 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), compared to 65 percent in Britain, numbers that mirror much of sub-Saharan Africa,’ he says.

The price of borrowing

For the minority who qualify for a mortgage, the terms are punishing. Rates sit at between 16 and 18 percent per annum, roughly double the single-digit threshold at which housing finance specialists consider mortgages genuinely affordable.

Uganda Bankers Association Executive Director Wilbroad Owor blames this on the absence of patient capital.

‘Commercial banks are short-term funded institutions. The mismatch between the short-term deposits they hold and the long-term loans housing requires is inherently costly, and that cost is passed directly to borrowers,’ he says.

It is a structural problem that even Uganda’s largest institutional investor cannot easily solve alone.

NSSF manages assets worth over Shs26 trillion and holds what the industry calls patient capital, yet its real estate portfolio manager Matthew Rukaari is measured in his optimism: ‘We fully recognise that it’s difficult.’

The Mortgage Refinancing Act

The Mortgage Refinancing Act, signed in February and now awaiting a regulatory framework, is designed to fix the structural mismatch that hobbles both banks and the pension scheme approach.

The logic is that mortgage refinancing companies, regulated by Bank of Uganda, would sit between commercial banks and long-term capital markets.

Instead of a bank funding a 20-year mortgage out of short-term deposits, the refinancing company steps in with long-term capital, absorbs a portion of the default risk, and allows banks to price mortgages more competitively.

‘Banks will sell that mortgage to the refinance company. The refinance company can wait much longer. Initial capital would come from government, supplemented by concessional finance from institutions like the World Bank and the African Development Bank,’ Owor explains.

It is a model Kenya has used to develop its mortgage market. Lutalo argues that cheaper credit would send a signal to developers that real customers, with real financing behind them, are waiting at the affordable end of the market, a signal that has been absent until now.

But Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA)’s investment and risk analyst Eric Mugisha cautions that you ‘might have all these refinancing entities, but you will find that the capacity is restricted to a few. It may not be helping the low-income earners.’

His concern is that without deliberate design choices about who the institution is meant to serve, the benefits will again flow to borrowers who are already close to bankable, leaving the majority behind.

Owor is measured but less pessimistic, pointing to Bank of Uganda’s involvement as a sound foundation.

The caveat, he acknowledges, is that the Mortgage Refinancing Act is still just an Act. The regulations that would create and capitalise the actual refinancing institutions have not yet been gazetted.

A failed experiment

Before the Mortgage Refinancing Act, Uganda tried something else. Regulations under URBRA allowed pension scheme members to use up to half of their accrued benefits as collateral for a home loan.

Its logic was rational, but it barely moved the needle in practice. Mugisha explains that the 50 percent rule meant a member could pledge whichever was lower: half their accrued benefits, or the property’s market value. The problem was the underlying numbers.

‘The biggest portion of members have money that is less than Shs10m,’ Mugisha notes, adding that: ‘Against a market where the average house costs upwards of Shs250m, someone would need benefits worth at least Shs500m to make the facility work’.

‘The regulation, in effect, reached exactly the people who already had options and missed entirely those who did not,’ he says.

Banks ran into a deeper problem, too. Uganda’s pension laws protect member contributions from attachment, meaning lenders have no clean enforcement mechanism in the event of default.

‘There is nothing that gives comfort to bankers. With collateral they could not legally seize, lenders walked away. Uptake was negligible,’ Mugisha notes. The lesson here is that structural solutions that ignore the legal landscape and the actual asset levels of their intended beneficiaries will not work, however elegantly designed.

Patient capital

Another pool of capital could transform Uganda’s housing market, and it has been sitting largely on the sidelines.

Pension funds, Saccos, insurance companies, and asset managers collectively hold assets that are half the commercial banking system’s Shs61.3 trillion. NSSF alone manages over Shs26 trillion.

In Kenya, pension funds allocate up to 30 percent of their portfolios to real estate. In Uganda, the figure is under 5 percent.

The gap is about returns. A pension fund earning 12 to 15 percent on government bonds, with near-zero risk and minimal effort, has little incentive to take on the complexity of a housing development for a similar yield.

As Lutalo puts it, ‘the market has simply not brought them a product which is de-risked and makes business sense to them.’

A functioning mortgage refinancing framework changes that calculus. Lower risk makes housing more competitive as an asset class, which attracts institutional capital, which funds more mortgage lending and more development.

It is a virtuous cycle that the developed world has already taken advantage of.

Rent-to-own: A bridge or a bandage?

In the absence of a functioning mortgage market, NSSF has been developing a Rent-to-Own policy. A household moves into a unit and pays rent, a portion of which accumulates toward eventual ownership.

‘Your payments will be going towards the ownership of the home. There will be an effective interest rate, obviously, but the hope is that the effective interest rate will be less than the current mortgage rates,’ Rukaari says.

It is a genuinely innovative attempt to meet people where they are. However, Rukaari is also honest about its limits: ‘One hundred million is one hundred million. How you decide to finance one hundred million doesn’t change the fact that one hundred million is very expensive for so many people.’

Kasaato frames the challenge in regional terms, referencing a seminar at an International Social Security Association meeting in the Ivory Coast in 2024.

Sierra Leone, with a GDP per capita of just $521 (Shs1.9m), defines an affordable home at around $30,000, roughly Shs112m. Uganda is richer, yet its institutions have not yet built a product at that price point, let alone below it.

Demand that cannot yet speak

Uganda is urbanising at 5 percent annually, according to the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, one of the fastest rates in Africa.

Kampala and its satellite towns absorb hundreds of thousands of new residents every year.

The desire to own is not a middle-class aspiration, but a universal one. What is missing is the financial infrastructure to convert want into effective demand: the kind that developers can see, price against, and build for.

The Mortgage Refinancing Act, if properly operationalised and deliberately designed to reach beyond the already-bankable, is the single most important near-term intervention available.

Paired with serious engagement from pension funds and complemented by innovative products like rent-to-own, Uganda has the pieces of a solution.

What has been lacking is the will to assemble them in the right order, at the right speed, and the honesty, as Mugisha’s warning about capacity makes clear, to confront what a given tool cannot do.

Beyond this, there is also need to examine why fixing demand is necessary but not sufficient (we are working on an article).

Even if every Ugandan who needs a home could suddenly access affordable financing, there would still not be enough homes to buy.

The supply side of the housing crisis is, if anything, an even more complex problem.

The latest appointments has pushed the number of MPs to 555 from 529, with the 26 ex-officio members named in the Cabinet.

The number of members in the 12th Parliament has risen to 555 following President Museveni’s appointment of 26 ex-officio members in the new Cabinet.

On Tuesday, President Museveni unveiled an 83-member Cabinet comprising ministers and ministers of state drawn from different parts of the country. While most of the appointees are elected Members of Parliament (MPs), several do not hold elective parliamentary seats and automatically qualify as ex-officio members.

Therefore, when a person who is not an elected legislator is appointed minister or vice president, they automatically become an ex-officio Member of Parliament. The latest appointments mean that the number of MPs has now increased to 555 from 529, with the addition of the 26 ex-officio members named in the Cabinet.

Although ex-officio members can participate in parliamentary business, the Constitution bars them from voting on matters that require a formal vote in the House. Their role in Parliament includes attending plenary sittings, debating issues, presenting government business, defending policies and statements, and responding to questions raised by legislators. Ex-officio members also participate in committee proceedings where they defend ministerial budgets, government programmes, and Bills tabled before Parliament. The expanded size of Parliament comes amid continued public debate over the cost of maintaining one of the largest legislatures in the region, with critics often questioning whether the increasing number of legislators and political appointees is sustainable.

In every modern economy, governments and businesses interact with two broad categories of persons: individuals and non-individuals. An individual is a natural person, a citizen, taxpayer, teacher, doctor, trader, employee, or landowner.

A non-individual, on the other hand, refers to entities such as companies, partnerships, trusts, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), cooperatives, associations, foundations, schools, hospitals, clubs and government bodies.

Behind every non-individual are real people: directors, shareholders, trustees, beneficial owners, managers, accountants, lawyers, and agents.

Every company contract, bank transaction, procurement process, or tax obligation ultimately connects back to individuals who own, manage, or benefit from that entity.

For any modern State to function efficiently, it must clearly answer two questions: Who is this individual? And what is this non-individual? Uganda has made major progress in identifying individuals through the National Identification Number (NIN) managed by the National Identification and Registration Authority.

The next critical step is creating the same certainty for non-individuals. Today, one entity may appear differently across multiple systems.

A company can have one number at registration, another for tax, another in procurement systems, another in licensing databases, and yet another in banking records. In many cases, names are abbreviated, misspelled, duplicated, or changed across institutions.

This fragmentation creates confusion, increases the cost of doing business, slows service delivery, and weakens regulation and accountability. It also creates opportunities for fraud, tax evasion, conflict of interest, and misuse of legal entities.

Under the Tax Procedures Code framework, the Uganda Registration Services Bureau has been mandated to establish and maintain the Non-Individual Register (NIR). The register will assign one trusted and unique number to every non-individual operating in Uganda. This number will serve as the common reference across government and private sector systems, including taxation, licensing, procurement, banking, and regulatory services.

Names alone are not enough. They can change, be duplicated or inconsistently recorded. However, a unique and well-governed number creates certainty, consistency, and trust across systems. For private sector, this reform will reduce duplication and simplify compliance.

Entities should not repeatedly submit the same information to different agencies. A shared and trusted identifier means faster verification, easier access to services, and lower administrative costs.

For the government, the benefits are greater. A common identifier allows agencies to link information across registration, taxation, licensing, procurement, land administration, and financial regulation systems.

Authorities can more easily identify active, dormant, dissolved, compliant, or non-compliant entities. The register will also strengthen transparency by linking non-individuals to the people behind them, such as directors, shareholders, trustees, beneficial owners, and authorised signatories. The purpose of the Non-Individual Register is build trust and certainty in Uganda’s economy.

The Non-Individual Register should not be viewed as merely a URSB project. It is part of Uganda’s broader digital public infrastructure and a foundation for modern governance, digital commerce, and efficient public service delivery.

The principle is simple: identify every non-individual once, assign one trusted number and use it everywhere.

Health experts are warning that poor eating habits, unsafe food handling, and the consumption of contaminated foods are putting students’ health at risk.

This follows reports that teenagers in many schools are facing serious nutritional challenges said to be behind increasing cases of stomach ulcers, upsets and other food-borne illnesses, such as brucellosis. Many students skip breakfast before going to school and later depend on cheap street foods, sugary snacks, and poorly prepared meals sold around school compounds.

Medical experts say that irregular eating patterns and excessive intake of spicy, oily, or unhygienic foods can irritate the stomach lining and lead to ulcers and other digestive complications. According to Dr Isma Tamale Mugerwa, a health nutritionist, parents play a major role in the nutritional problems affecting children. ‘Parents pack a lot of unsafe products for children, prompting them to ignore the healthy foods provided at school and instead depend on junk foods around school premises,’ Dr Mugerwa said.

Unsafe dairy products have also become a growing concern.

Dr Mugerwa explained that brucellosis is a bacterial disease commonly spread through unpasteurized milk and dairy products from infected animals.

He noted that contaminated dairy products cause fever, stomach discomfort, and other health complications. Health experts are also concerned about food additives and local delicacies such as ‘oddi’ (derived from peanut butter) and ‘appeta,’ (a derivative of several cooking fat, and spices), which are sometimes mixed into food. While some communities consider them harmless, health officials warn that the unhygienic conditions products in which they are prepared or sold without proper regulation may expose consumers to harmful bacteria and chemicals.

Dr Mugerwa explained that many teenagers unknowingly consume unsafe foods because of limited awareness and poor supervision. ‘Students often buy food from roadside vendors without checking how the food is prepared or stored,’ he said. ‘Some of these foods may contain contaminated milk, unsafe water, or additives that can cause stomach infections and long-term health complications.’ However, the students blame their eating conditions at home for their persistent stomach problems. ‘My mum doesn’t give me any pocket money for breakfast, and I end up waiting for lunch provided by the school, which is also little. I remain hungry the whole day, and this may trigger ulcers,’ said John Mbowa, a student.

Dr Mugerwa emphasised that although there are several factors responsible for their nutritional challenges, learners should also understand the food types suitable for their bodies. He added that nutrition experts can guide people on healthy feeding habits after carrying out health assessments. ‘We test the blood through different phases and recommend food to people according to their body needs because what is important for one person’s body may not be suitable for another,’ he explained.

Sensitisation

Education experts are now calling for stronger food safety inspections in schools, improved nutrition education, and regular health screening for students.

Parents have also been encouraged to provide balanced meals and teach children about the dangers of consuming unsafe food products.

Dr Mugerwa is now urging parents to take their children to nutrition experts before returning them to school in order to understand what foods are safe and healthy for them. He believes that with proper awareness, hygiene, and healthy eating habits, many of these preventable illnesses among teenagers can be reduced or prevented.

The Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) has defended its decision not to recommend the renewal of former Chief Executive Officer Alhaj Kaddunabbi Ibrahim Lubega’s contract, arguing that his case has been overtaken by events following the expiry of his contract.

In affidavits filed before the Civil Division of the High Court in response to Mr Kaddunabbi’s application on Monday, the Authority and its former Board chairman, Dr. Isaac Nkote Nabeta, contend that there is no longer any contract for the court to preserve, maintain, or reinstate because Kaddunabbi’s five-year term expired on May 31, 2026.

Through their lawyers of Denton Advocates led by Counsel John Musiime, IRA and Dr Nkote further argue that the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has since appointed Protazio Sande as Acting Chief Executive Officer effective today, June 1, 2026, making the interim relief sought by Kaddunabbi legally untenable.

According to Francesca N. Kakooza, the Secretary to the Board of the Insurance Regulatory Authority, Mr Kaddunabbi’s employment contract was strictly for a fixed term running from June 1, 2021, to May 31, 2026, and naturally came to an end by operation of law.

Kakooza states that ahead of the contract’s expiry, the current Board Chairperson, Mr Keto Nyapendi Kayemba, directed Mr Kaddunabbi on April 29, 2026, to proceed on outstanding leave and complete a handover process to ensure continuity at the regulator.

The Authority says the handover process has already been concluded and that Protazio has assumed office as Acting Chief Executive Officer.

IRA officials argue that granting Mr Kaddunabbi’s application would create an absurd situation in which two individuals simultaneously claim authority as Chief Executive Officer of the same statutory body.

According to the affidavits, such a development would disrupt governance structures, create uncertainty over control of public resources, and undermine the operations of Uganda’s insurance regulator.

The dispute stems from a decision taken by the IRA Board on February 16, 2026, declining to recommend Kaddunabbi to the Minister of Finance for reappointment as Chief Executive Officer for a second five-year term.

The Authority further stated that the Board’s deliberations were informed by findings from internal reviews and audits, which raised concerns about governance and financial management.

Mr Kaddunabbi subsequently filed a judicial review application challenging the decision and seeking declarations that the Board acted illegally, irrationally and unfairly. He also wants the court to quash the decision and restrain the Authority from implementing it.

In his application, Mr Kaddunabbi argues that he was denied a fair hearing before the Board made its decision, despite having consistently received outstanding performance ratings and meeting all requirements for reappointment.

The outgoing Chief Executive Officer maintains that he had a legitimate expectation to be considered fairly for another term after serving the Authority for over a decade.

Records before the Court indicate that Mr Kaddunabbi formally expressed interest in the renewal of his contract on May 28, 2025, in accordance with the Authority’s Human Resource Management Manual and the Insurance Act.

He submitted reports showing his achievements registered during his tenure, including growth in insurance industry premiums, increased claims settlements, expansion of regional operations, construction of Insurance Tower, automation of regulatory functions, and implementation of sector reforms.

Mr Kaddunabbi argues that his performance had consistently been rated highly by the Board and that he was therefore eligible and suitable for reappointment. However, the Authority argues that eligibility for consideration did not translate into an automatic right to another term.

Court records show that Mr Kaddunabbi joined the regulator in 2011 as Chief Executive Officer of the then Uganda Insurance Commission before it evolved into the Insurance Regulatory Authority. Following amendments to the Insurance Act in 2017 introducing term limits for chief executives, he was appointed under the new legal framework for a five-year term beginning in June 2021.

He has so far served a combined total of 16 years as the Chief Executive Officer.

On Monday, IRA’s lawyers at Dentons wrote a letter to Mr Kaddunabbi’s lawyers at Arcadia Advocates, cautioning him not to illegally appear at the institution.

‘Our client (IRA) informs us that this morning (Monday morning), your client (Mr Kaddunabbi) Ibrahim Lubega entered the premises of IRA, convened an authorized assembly of staff members, and formally asserted that he remains the Chief Executive Officer of the Authority. This conduct was falsely presented to staff as being authorized and protected by an administrative interim order issued by Her Lordship Justice Joyce Kavuma on May 29th,’ IRA’s lawyers at Dentons wrote.

Adding, ‘According to the administrative interim order, neither renewed nor extended your client’s contract of employment beyond its expiry on 31st May, nor did the court appoint your client as Chief Executive Officer. Furthermore, the court did not confer upon him any authority to continue exercising the powers and functions of that office after expiry of his contract, or did it invalidate or suspend the exercise of a lawful statutory power by the appointing authority following the expiry of your client’s contract.’

Going forward, IRA’s lawyers don’t want to see Mr Kaddunabbi access the institution.

‘Accordingly, we hereby demand that your client immediately cease and desist from entering the premises of the Authority under the color of office, masquerading as the Chief Executive Officer, or interfering in any manner whatsoever with the administration, staff, or operations of the Authority.’ the lawyers wrote.

The respondents also argued that any loss Mr Kaddunabbi may suffer can adequately be compensated through damages should he ultimately succeed in court. They contend that he has failed to demonstrate irreparable harm warranting the grant of interim judicial remedies.

Consequently, IRA officials have asked the High Court to dismiss the applications with costs.

The matter came up for hearing on Monday before the Civil Division of the High Court in Kampala.

Presiding judge Joyce Kavuma directed Mr Kaddunabbi’s lawyers to file their written submissions by June 5, 2026, while IRA lawyers were ordered to file their submissions by June 10.

Justice Kavuma further directed the parties to return to court on June 12, when she is expected to issue further directions on the management and progression of the case.

Elders from Teso sub-region have appealed to President Museveni to intervene in the ongoing investigations involving former Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, urging that the matter be handled “fairly and free from political influence”.

In a May 28 statement, under the banner of the Iteso Cultural Union (ICU), the elders expressed support for accountability and the work of State agencies but cautioned against what they described as growing political pressure and public condemnation before the conclusion of investigations.

The statement, signed by Mr Alloch William Akoll, a senior advisor on ICU affairs, called on investigators to uphold the rule of law, transparency, and the constitutional principle of presumption of innocence.

‘We appeal for the rule of law and a fair hearing during the investigations. While we respect the mandate of state institutions to ensure accountability, these processes should be handled with absolute fairness and adherence to the principle of innocence until proven guilty,’ he said.

The elders, who have put a disclaimer of being non-partisan, further appealed to President Museveni to approach the matter with impartiality and statesmanship.

‘We in the utmost good faith call upon the national leadership, particularly His Excellency President Museveni, whom we have always trusted in his wise decision-making, to look into these matters with the eyes of a statesman, elder and father, ensuring political differences are resolved through dialogue, consensus and respect for regional representation,’ the statement read in part.

The intervention comes amid ongoing investigations into allegations of illicit enrichment, corruption, and abuse of office involving Ms Among, the Speaker of the 11th Parliament. The elders also questioned measures reportedly taken against Ms Among before the completion of investigations, including the freezing of assets and restrictions on movement.

‘We further urge that the freezing of assets, restriction of movement, and sudden political isolation of a high-ranking national leader while investigations are still ongoing could be avoided or controlled to prevent public bias against the investigation process and its outcome,’ the statement said.

Since May 16, joint security teams comprising detectives from the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), anti-corruption agencies, and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces have been investigating allegations against Ms Among. The teams have conducted searches at properties associated with her in Kampala City, Wakiso and Bukedea districts. Several high-end vehicles, including a Rolls-Royce Cullinan reportedly valued at Shs3.4 billion, a Mercedes-Maybach, and a Range Rover, were among items seized during the operations.

Mr Akoll said the elders were ready to engage State institutions through dialogue and peaceful engagement to ensure that justice is served without deepening political tensions.

The elders also highlighted Ms Among’s contribution to development projects in Teso and beyond, arguing that her record of philanthropy and community support should not be overlooked.

They cited several initiatives undertaken during her tenure as Speaker, including the donation of medical equipment worth Shs600 million to Bukedea Health Centre IV in 2022 and a donation of tractors valued at Shs300 million to farmers in Kidongole Sub-county, Bukedea District.

”The elders will continue to monitor the situation very closely and stand in solidarity with Rt Hon Anita Among as our daughter, to provide a peaceful environment for legal investigations into the allegations, while reaffirming our unwavering commitment to a peaceful, just, and equitable Uganda where every region’s contribution and leaders are respected,” the statement reads .

Leaders in Busoga have unveiled an ambitious strategy to accelerate household income generation and position the sub-region among Uganda’s fastest-growing economies by 2030.

The strategy was launched in Jinja City over the weekend by the Busoga Consortium for Development (BCD), a regional development network seeking to steer Busoga towards middle-income status through commercial agriculture, the Village Development Model, and initiatives that promote agricultural productivity, economic growth, environmental stewardship and social wellbeing.

The BCD Director General, Dr Anthony Mula, said Busoga is the only sub-region operating under a structured long-term transformation blueprint, the Busoga Development Agenda (BDA), which is built around 10 strategic pillars aimed at tackling poverty and underdevelopment. He said the agenda provides a roadmap for coordination in agriculture, education, youth empowerment, industrialisation, infrastructure, technology and international cooperation.

‘The next five years will focus on leveraging regional cohesion to drive agricultural modernisation, value addition, digital learning, youth empowerment and strengthening international trade partnerships,’ Dr Mula said.

He revealed that BCD plans to establish 12 fully operational model villages across Busoga by 2028, with projections of lifting more than 9,000 households out of poverty through organised commercial agriculture and modern production systems. Among the key programmes is a digital teaching initiative due to start this month. The programme is expected to connect at least 50 schools across Busoga to online lessons delivered in real time by specialised teachers.

Dr Mula said the consortium will also expand its school feeding and soya milk initiative to improve learners’ nutrition, attendance and academic performance. In addition, leaders have resolved to strengthen youth skilling and entrepreneurship programmes targeting more than one million young people through local and international partnerships coordinated under Busoga Kingdom and BCD structures.

The Uganda National Household Survey 2023/24 by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) showed that more than 7.3 million Ugandans live below the absolute poverty line, earning less than $1 (about Shs3,769) per person per day. The report ranked Busoga as the second hardest-hit sub-region, with 840,700 people living in absolute poverty, after Karamoja’s 937,500. The Third Deputy Prime Minister and chairperson of the BCD ministerial coordination committee, Ms Rukia Nakadama, said Busoga has the potential to become one of Uganda’s leading agricultural and industrial regions if leaders prioritise implementation, accountability and mobilisation of communities towards commercial agriculture.

She urged leaders to embrace government wealth-creation programmes and integrate increased Parish Development Model (PDM) funding with the Village Agriculture Model (VAM) being implemented by BCD. Government plans to increase PDM funding from Shs100 million to Shs200 million per parish. The VAM, launched by Vice President Jessica Alupo in 2024, is currently being piloted in Namayombe Village in Namayingo District, Busana in Kamuli District and Mashaiga in Mayuge District. Ms Nakadama said some villages are already investing in soy growing and poultry projects with support from BCD and China Agricultural University.

Busoga’s cooperation with Chinese institutions has also opened opportunities in agriculture, trade, education and technology transfer. Last November, President Museveni flagged off 11 tonnes of dried chilli from Busoga, making it the first sub-region in Uganda to directly export agricultural produce to China. Meanwhile, leaders from Busoga’s 12 local governments elected Bugiri District LC5 chairperson Davidson Mulumba Kasajja as Governor of the BCD, replacing former Mayuge District LC5 chairperson Bishop Frank Tibagendeka. Iganga District LC5 chairperson Shabiru Isabirye was elected Vice Governor.

Mr Kasajja pledged to promote unity, commercial agriculture and implementation of development programmes to reduce poverty across the sub-region.

Residents in Jinja City have expressed growing concern over organised criminal gangs targeting bank customers after police arrested a woman suspected of being part of a syndicate that allegedly trails victims withdrawing cash before stealing or conning them.

The suspect, identified as Mariam Bahati, was arrested and detained at the Kiira Regional Police headquarters as detectives investigate a string of incidents reported in Jinja and Kampala.

Police said they recovered a bag containing local herbs, suspected charms and foreign currencies during the operation.

Investigators believe the items may have been used by the group while carrying out its activities, although police have not yet disclosed whether any criminal charges have been formally filed against the suspect.

According to police and victims, members of the alleged gang monitor customers withdrawing money from banks before following them and exploiting moments of distraction to steal cash or valuables.

Ali Naika said her sister recently lost Shs1.6 million shortly after withdrawing the money from Opportunity Bank on Alice Muloki Road in Jinja.

‘She had just withdrawn money from the bank when she was approached and later realised the cash was missing,’ Ms Naika said.

Residents said the gang has been operating around Jinja’s main banking district along Alice Muloki Road, which hosts several financial institutions, including Opportunity Bank, DFCU Bank and Finance Trust Bank.

Witnesses and victims said the suspects typically operate in groups, with some members stationed near banking halls to identify potential targets while others follow victims after they leave the premises.

Police officers involved in the arrest said they recovered foreign currencies, including US dollars and Sudanese pounds, alongside the suspected charms.

Authorities said the suspect allegedly told investigators that the group had been operating in both Kampala and Jinja for an extended period, though police have not independently confirmed the claims.

Jinja Deputy Resident City Commissioner Paul Balidawa urged the public to exercise caution when conducting banking transactions.

‘Cases involving organised criminal gangs are increasing across the Busoga sub-region. People should avoid displaying money openly after withdrawals,’ Mr Balidawa said.

He called on banks, private security personnel and members of the public to cooperate with law enforcement agencies by reporting suspicious individuals loitering around banking premises.

Police said investigations are continuing and efforts are underway to trace other suspects believed to be linked to the alleged network.

The arrest comes amid growing concerns over theft and fraud targeting bank customers in urban centres, where criminals often exploit surveillance gaps and victims’ movements after withdrawing cash.