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  • KACITA Pays Courtesy Visit to Registrar General of URSB

    KACITA Pays Courtesy Visit to Registrar General of URSB

    A delegation from the Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) has today paid a courtesy visit to Ms. Mercy K Kainobwisho, the Registrar General of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB). The meeting, held at the URSB headquarters at Georgia House focused on areas of mutual cooperation & enhanced joint sensitization campaigns across the country.
    In her remarks, the Registrar General appreciated KACITA for the visit adding that it was the first delegation she was meeting since her appointment to the office in December 2020. She appealed to KACITA to encourage its members to formalize their businesses in order to support efforts to improve Uganda’s ranking in the ease of doing business index as well as be able to access the security interest in movable property registry system (SIMPO) that enables Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises as well as individuals access credit using their movable assets as collateral.
    The system was developed in fulfillment of Government of Uganda’s objective in the Second National Development Plan 2015/16 – 2019/20 of reducing interest rates. ”With your visit, we can now strengthen other areas of collaboration and enhance cooperation for the implementation of key interventions for the Kampala City Traders who form the bulk of our clientele. URSB is open to further discussions with KACITA on any other mutually beneficial services for all our clients” Ms. Kainobwisho said.
    ”At URSB, we have a deliberate strategy to simplify registration services for our clientele while promoting the country’s competitiveness. Our steady rise in ranking is attributed to engagements like the one we are having today” she added.
    On his part, Mr. Abel Mwesigye, the CEO of KACITA congratulated Ms. Kainobwisho on her appointment and pledged their continued support and cordial relations. Mr. Mwesigye was particularly thankful to URSB because the formalization of their businesses facilitated by URSB gave confidence to financial institutions to provide additional relief from challenges brought about by Covid 19.
    He appealed to the URSB management to expand on the advocacy and training programmes to cover cities outside Kampala. He also requested for implementations of joint initiatives between KACITA and URSB.
    The KACITA delegation included Mrs. Prosy Musoke (Board Member), Mr. Ayesigye Brian (Organizing Secretary and founder Bravo Shoes), and Mr. Baguma Timothy (Head of Finance).
  • Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs visits Uganda Registration Services Bureau

    Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs visits Uganda Registration Services Bureau

    The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Hon. Ephraim Kamuntu this morning made his maiden visit to Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) as part of his line ministerial role. The Minister was received by the URSB top management led by the Board Chairman Amb. Francis K. Butagira and the Registrar General, Bemanya Twebaze.

    The Minister of Justice & Constitutional Affairs, Hon. Ephraim Kamuntu (Centre), flanked by the URSB Board Chairman, Ambassador Francis K. Butagira (left) and the Registrar General, Bemanya Twebaze during the minister’s familiarization tour of URSB’s One Stop Shop at Georgian House in Kampala

    The Honorable Minister who took time to visit the Uganda Business Facilitation Centre underscored the need for increased working relations between the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) not only in the domain of ICT but in other service delivery areas that will enable the public access Government services. He further requested the URSB management to explore other partnerships as a viable model for implementation of their mandate. He noted the pivotal role played by URSB in the Government’s vision of transforming the country from a subsistence to a modern economy through formalization of businesses.

    The Board Chairman, Amb. Francis K. Butagira in his remarkssaid URSB has been growing tremendously over the last seven years listing the achievements that included decentralization of services that has enabled wider access to services across the country and the growth of Non Tax Revenue from 7.51bn in the 2011/2012 Financial Year to 56.8bn in 2018/19.

    The Registrar General appreciated the Board of Directors for providing an enabling environment for URSB to implement its Strategic Development Plan that laid out the aspirations of the institution across board. He further underscored the need for technology driven processes which had resulted in the All-Digital-All-Online by 2020 strategy. The Registrar General saidthis would relate to areas of service turn-around management, electronic records management, online registration of business, marriage returns filing, information sharing and collaboration. The RG also emphasised the need for integration of information systems among all players in the Justice, Law and Order Sector (JLOS) as a mechanism for improving effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery. 

    Hon. Kamuntu further thanked URSB for the warm welcome and said he is was eager to support the institution since he was impressed with the level of commitment to service delivery especially in formalizing the economy. The Minister added that URSB contributed to improved access to services in the Justice sector and facilitated citizen empowerment through their other mandate like registration of marriages.

  • Committee on Legal & Parliamentary Affairs praise URSB over stellar performance

    Committee on Legal & Parliamentary Affairs praise URSB over stellar performance

    The Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs is mandated by Parliament to oversee the activities and programmes of the select Government Departments and Institutions including the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs under which the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) falls.

    Last Wednesday, the committee chaired by Hon. Jacob ObothOboth met the team from URSB led by the Deputy Registrar General –Finance & Administration, Alfred Mugisha

    The Legislators were receiving URSB’s Budget Framework Paper for FY 2020/21 which was presented by the Deputy Registrar General -Registries, Mrs Jane Okot P’Bitek Langoya.

    URSB is a key player in enhancing the competitiveness of the economy through registration services which include; Civil Registration, Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, Business Registration, Registration of Securities in Movable Properties and Insolvency Services.

    “You are one of the shining stars in the list of government agencies. Your performance is outstanding and we would like to thank you for the good work. We are quite impressed with the reports from URSB” said the Committee Chairperson, Hon.Jacob Oboth Oboth.

    Other Committee Members re-echoed the Chairperson’s views, adding that URSB is on the right course and therefore deservedthe support of Parliament to move forward. The MPs also said they were impressed with the turn-around of services and continued growth of mandate.

    The URSB team presented their report that highlighted key performance areas, challenges, as well as the institution’s priorities for the next Five years.

    “We believe with your support as Parliament, together with the Ministry of Finance, Planning & Economic Development, we will be to have our funding gaps plugged, giving us even better platforms to grow our Non Tax Revenue collections in addition to increasing our service coverage across the country,” said Mrs. Langoya, adding that URSB would fully cooperate with Parliament and furnish it with all the information it required to support their plea for adequate funding.

    “Mr Chairman, we believe if we are granted more funding to cover our automation strategy, recruit additional staff since our staff structure is only 58% filled, we will be able to perform better than we already are. We ask that you look into this.”

    Mrs. Langoya told the Committee that the Bureau needed 15.738 billion to enhance productivity and promote expansion to provide nationwide services. “For example, implementation of the URSB All-Digital-All-Online strategy to have all services e-based requires 3billion shillings” said Mrs Langoya.

    The URSB team also presented the unfunded priorities which included operationalization of the approved Human Resource Structure to improve the staffing level that currently stands at only 58%, implementation of the URSB All-digital-All Online drive to have all services e-based, Establishment of additional One-Stop Shops across the country, Continuous staff capacity building to cope with progress in technology, Rolling out of electronic marriage registration systems to significantly improve formalization of marriages, and Establishment of the Geographical Indications Registry.

    “Please point out the priority areas you believe are crucial for your performance and let us know. We will invite the Ministry of Finance together with URSB and agree on how we can get them funded,” said Hon. Oboth Oboth.

    Deputy Registrar General, Alfred Mugisha pointed out that URSB had grown its budget from UGX 2.3 bn. in FY 2010/2011 to UGX 25bn in 2019/2020 and its Non Tax Revenue (NTR) hadgrown tremendously from UGX 5.8 Billion in 2010/2011 to UGX 56.3 billion in FY 2018/2019.

    Hon. Abdu Katuntu told the Committee Members that Uganda had one of the best Companies Act globally and that he was happy URSB was doing a great job at formalizing the economy.