Registration bureau revenue to hit sh22b

Dec 22, 2013

The Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) expects to realize total collections of over sh22b in non-tax revenue at the end of this financial year.

By Umar Kashaka

The Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) expects to realise total collections of over sh22b in non-tax revenue at the end of this financial year, the registrar general, Bemanya Twebaze, has revealed.


Speaking to the New Vision at the bureau’s office in Kampala, Twebaze also said the bureau collected sh11b in the last six months.

He explained that the tremendous growth achieved even with limited funding from the Government, implied that Uganda had the potential to fund its own budget.

“Last year, we were allocated only about sh8b, yet we require over sh21b to be able to collect over sh30b monthly, but we have managed to realise this collection despite inadequate resources,” he explained.

“This improvement shows that our efforts in revenue collection have yielded results, and we can now build infrastructure and plan for our economy, without relying on foreign aid,” he added.

He attributed the improvement to the bureau’s zero-tolerance to corruption and close working ties with the Uganda Revenue Authority.

Twebaze said next year, they intend to automate business registration under the competitiveness and enterprise development project.

The move away from a paper-based manual system to a computer-based system will lend more efficiency to registration services and have a multiplier effect on the users and beneficiaries of the services.

“Once this (automation) is done, we shall be in position to increase our business registration and also enhance turn-around time, investor confidence, efficiency and effectiveness by making Uganda competitive in as far as doing business is concerned,” he added.

“It has been taking us three days to register a business, but the automation will enable us do business better by registering in less than six hours,” Twebaze observed.

He said the bulk of collected revenues (90%) was from registration of entities. Collection of stamp duty and registration fees and registration of intellectual property made up for the rest.

The bureau, is however still lobbying the Government to avail it with a plot of land to build offices with a $10m (about sh25b) loan from the World Bank.

“We cannot get these funds if we do not have land. We would like to have a permanent home, so that the investments in infrastructure envisaged are committed to a fixed location,” he said.

URSB, which took over the functions of the Registrar General’s office under the justice and constitutional affairs ministry, is an autonomous statutory body that was established in 1998.

It carries out all registrations required under the relevant laws and maintains registers, data and records on registrations affected by the bureau. It also serves as a clearing house for information and data on those registrations among other functions.

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