What Uganda's Auditor General and other official bodies found

Where reports are published

The Office of the Auditor General lists its value for money audits online. The list includes an audit of identification and registration of persons by NIRA (2018), import inspections and product standards by UNBS (2019) and regulation of safe public road transport by the Ministry of Works and Transport (2022) ¹.

Customs and border posts, 2023 special audit

Daily Monitor reported on 28 June 2024 on Auditor General John Muwanga's 2023 special value for money audit ². It found mis-declarations, concealment of country of origin, smuggling, undervaluation, weak oversight of Authorised Economic Operators and weak verification ².

The customs shortfall fell from Shs495b in FY2020/21 to Shs105b in FY2022/23. URA collected 98.8 percent of its Shs9.4t customs target in FY2022/23 ². The audit found that all cargo entering the country is scanned at border posts. URA installed 39 scanners worth Shs47.9b at 39 posts ².

Consistently efficient stations included Malaba OSBP, Mpondwe OSBP, Lia, Vurra and Entebbe. Consistently inefficient stations included Busia OSBP, Elegu OSBP, Mirama Hills OSBP, Katuna, Mutukula, Cyanika and Bunagana ².

Response: URA manager Robert Kalumba said the audit "identified several areas of improvement". URA listed staff redeployment, client risk bands, limits on partial ex-warehousing of high-risk goods and progressive penalties ².

National ID replacement

The Auditor General's annual report, written in December 2022 and reported on 18 April 2023, warned that NIRA did not appear ready to replace the first IDs. It found no clear strategy or roadmap, and costs, card supply contracts, equipment and recruitment were not settled. It asked NIRA to draw up a roadmap ³.

Response: NIRA's Osborn Mushabe said the agency was "still within time" and in "advanced stages" of preparation ³.

On 7 September 2026 NIRA executive director Rosemary Kisembo answered queries from the Auditor General's 2025 report before COSASE. She said 15.4 million new IDs had been printed and 10 million issued, with about 5.4 million uncollected ⁴.

Import inspection portal

Daily Monitor reported an Auditor General finding on the e-portal that links importers with Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) systems for quality control. It said a bug backdated imports in the portal. The bug gave the false impression that inspections took place before shipments reached UNBS ⁵.

A review for FY2022/23 found 336 cases that avoided examination, with an estimated US$2.63 million (Shs9.7 billion) in lost non-tax revenue ⁵. Response: UNBS said three staff were interdicted during internal and police investigations. The Auditor General advised UNBS to speed up the investigations ⁵.

Other official bodies

• Attorney General Dr. Sam Mayanja told Parliament on 6 October 2026 that the 2021 digital number plate contract "contradicts many provisions of our existing law". The contractor's representative disputed parts of the ministers' account ⁶.
• Former Works Minister Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala told Parliament the plate rollout went ahead without a feasibility study, as reported on 13 October 2026 ⁷.
• Parliament's Committee on Physical Infrastructure ended its ITMS inquiry in October 2026. Its report had not been tabled by 20 October 2026 ⁸.
• Minister Kahinda Otafiire told Parliament in August 2023 that the Inspectorate of Government was supposed to have halted a plan to phase out local plate makers ⁹.
• Daily Monitor reported that URA was asked to explain why it procured SICPA for digital tax stamps without competitive bidding. The report does not say which body asked ¹⁰.