Minister gives colleague ultimatum on UBOS chief's conduct
“I’m waiting for the finance minister to convene that meeting. If he doesn’t convene the meeting within a month, I will come here and explain to Ugandans because as the minister for national guidance, I shouldn’t be the one interfering in other people’s work.”
Lumumba warned that if Musasizi does not do the needful and hold a meeting within a month, she will have no option but to address the nation on the matter at the UMC.
KAMPALA - ICT and National Guidance Minister Justine Kasule Lumumba has issued a 30-day ultimatum to her finance counterpart, Henry Musasizi, on the conduct of the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) executive director, Chris Mukiza.
This follows an extraordinary public statement Mukiza released on October 21, 2026, describing the newly launched National Data Strategy as an “existential threat” to the UBOS Act of 1998, and, therefore, “illegal, irregular, redundant and adds no value to the National Statistical System”.
The public statement came a day after the official launch by the ICT state minister, Joyce Ssebugwawo, at Mestil Hotel in Kampala.
“I wrote to the minister of finance to look into this matter of the executive director of UBOS writing opposing what had been done by the ICT ministry and to convene a meeting that will also be attended by the Attorney General,” Lumumba said in Luganda on Tuesday (November 3).
Lumumba, who wants Musasizi to rein in the UBOS chief, accused the latter of attacking their data strategy.
“We have the law on personal data and the Personal Data Protection Office under NITA-U (National Information Technology Authority, Uganda), which also gives us the mandate when it comes to data. So, we have to differentiate between statistics and data,” she told the media.
Lumumba warned that if Musasizi does not do the needful and hold a meeting within a month, she will have no option but to address the nation on the matter at the UMC.
Dr. Chris Mukiza
“I’m waiting for the finance minister to convene that meeting. If he doesn’t convene the meeting within a month, I will come here and explain to Ugandans because as the minister for national guidance, I shouldn’t be the one interfering in other people’s work.”
“Today, we are not simply launching a document. We are setting a shared direction for how Uganda can better manage, protect, share and use data to drive national development,” she said.
UBOS boss statement
In his strongly worded statement on the issue, Mukiza stated that UBOS learned of the launch with “great concern”, questioning the ICT ministry’s legal authority to spearhead data collections and frameworks.
“The MoICT&NG has no legal mandate to spearhead matters incidental to statistics. That mandate is vested with the Uganda Bureau of Statistics,” he wrote, strongly advising the public to treat “the impugned National Data Strategy with the utmost contempt it deserves”.
By the time of writing this story, Musasizi was still attending Parliament’s plenary session.