The Minster of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Francis Mwebesa has appointed Eng. James Nkamwesiga Kasigwa as the 5th Executive Director of Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) effective 13th May, 2024.
Eng. James N. Kasigwa is an Electrical Engineer with an illustrious career, having worked with multinational corporations, private and public sectors, spanning over two decades in leadership and strategic management of expert teams in Science, Technology, Innovation, Standards and the Infrastructure Industry.
He holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Makerere University, a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and a Master’s of Science degree in Telecommunication from London South Bank University, London, United Kingdom and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from ESAMI.
Prior to this appointment, Eng. Kasigwa has been serving as the Director Science, Technology, Innovation Regulation & Biosafety at the Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation, Uganda.
He also served as the Commissioner ICT Infrastructure Development at the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance.
Eng. Kasigwa substantively replaces Ebiru David Livingstone, who was forced to resign his position as last year over corruption allegations.
Mwebesa sacked former UNBS Executive Director David Livingstone Ebiru following embattled corruption between two entities on August 4th 2023.
“The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to inform you that I hereby dismiss you from the position of Executive Director of UNBS with immediate effect; in accordance with Section 11(2), (5) (b) and (c) of the UNB Amendment Act 2013,” Minister Mwebesa said in a September, 4, 2023 letter to Ebiru.
While appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Public Accounts Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) Ebiru admitted paying a shs100 million bribe in a desperate attempt to prevent termination of his contract.
“I confess that I bribed the board to secure my position. The shs100 million was handed over to one board member for distribution,”Ebiru said.
However, in the letter copied to the Attorney General, IGG, chairperson of the Public Accounts committee of parliament and Principal Private Secretary to the president, the Trade Minister reasoned with the National Standards Council that had stated that in a Special Meeting held on August, 1, 2023 that they reviewed and analysed the evidence concerning the allegations of misconduct, mismanagement and misappropriation of funds and your response in defence and found that Ebiru was guilty of the allegations.
The minister said having admitted to having withdrawn and spent PVOC collections funds (Non-Tax Revenue) totalling to approximately shs11.5 billion at source which was meant to have been remitted to the Consolidated Fund contrary to the Public Finance Management Act 2015, it was only prudent that he is sacked.
The minister said that evidence provided by the National Standards Council indicated that Ebiru admitted to having made several cash withdrawals without authorisation of Council and the Treasury (PS/ST) contrary to the UNBS Finance and Administration Manual and Treasury Instructions .
“ .. you admitted to having failed to discipline 5 staff members who caused financial loss to the Bureau totalling to shs 9.282 billion, after having backdated inspection dates on Inspection Reports and edited application dates on the e-portal Applications; and denied having been investigated and found culpable by the IGG for misappropriation of funds meant for the fuel marking project being jointly despite there being evidence of a plea bargain by him and others to refund the said misappropriated funds,” Minister Mwebesa said in his letter.
The role of UNBS is the formulation and promotion of the use of standards; enforcing standards in protection of the public health and safety and the environment against dangerous, counterfeit and substandard products; ensuring fairness in trade and precision in industry through reliable measurement systems.
