Insurance Regulatory Authority leadership row paralyses COSASE
The tug-of-war almost brought the committee to a standstill, with two men each claiming to be the rightful head of the Insurance Regulatory Authority, leaving MPs struggling to determine who should answer the audit queries.
COSASE Chairperson and Kyadondo County East MP Haroon Muwada Nkunyingi. (Credit: Maria Wamala)
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A dispute over who heads the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) briefly paralysed parliamentary business after two men claiming the top job appeared before the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE).
The two were Dr Protazio Sande, who was appointed acting chief executive officer (CEO) of the authority, and Dr Ibrahim Kaddunabbi Lubega, whose tenure as the substantive CEO had expired but who maintains that a court order allowed him to remain in office.
The two appeared before the committee on Monday (August 10) during a hearing to scrutinise Auditor General (AG) Edward Akol’s report on the authority for the 2024/25 financial year, with each insisting that he was the rightful office bearer.
Sande, Kaddunabbi row
However, while appearing before Members of Parliament (MPs) on Monday (August 10), Kaddunabbi disputed this account.
“On May 29, 2026, the High Court of Uganda, through my application, I took to it, maintained the status quo of what was happening at the Insurance Regulatory Authority. That position is still the case,” he explained.
“And on May 29, 2026, I was the CEO of the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda, and the intention of the court maintaining the status quo was to enable it to consider my application, which is still ongoing before court. So, Mr Chairman, as far as the law is concerned, I am CEO of Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda,” Kaddunabbi maintained.
He added that when the dispute reached a climax, his contract was still running.
MPs react
“The subject or issue is whether we have a substantive or acting chief executive officer or accounting officer. Already, before us, Kaddunabbi is saying that he is the chief executive officer. Next to you is Sande saying he is the acting chief executive officer,” Nkunyingi wondered.
Before proceeding to put Sande under oath, the committee discovered that the letter from permanent secretary/Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi appointing him to the position had not been officially received by the IRA and that there was no forwarding letter.
Instead, the letter had been transmitted through one of the authority’s officers.
“We need proof that you did not access this from social media,” Nkunyingi said.
“If you may allow, because of the urgency of this issue, we asked one of our officers to go and bench the Ministry to get this letter. Because I was very sure that if I come here without it, then we shall be wasting the committee's time,” Sande responded.