The Inspector General of Government (IGG) Betty Kamya, has said that they are investigating the Uganda Bureau of Statistics-UBOS regarding inconsistencies in the 2024 census results.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday in preparation for International Ombudsman Day, Kamya said that the inspectorate has picked interest in understanding how the inconsistency in the results came about, yet the bureau was fully funded for the census exercise.
On Monday, UBOS acknowledged errors in the census results, particularly concerning population figures by tribe and religion. This followed public criticism, with many accusing the statistics body of manipulating data.
The bureau acknowledged that the mistake occurred in the figures of the 2014 census for four ethnic groups—Bakiga, Bagisu, Acholi, and Langi—whose population data had been incorrectly interchanged.
According to the census figures the population of the Bagisu reduced from 2,390,975 in 2014 to 2,096,149 in 2024, while the Acholi were reported at 1,941,913, down from 2,131,443 in 2014.
According to Kamya, the investigations will extend to how the money was spent and how the census was conducted.
Kamya said that this is not the first time the IG has been investigating UBOS. “In the financial year 2022, we made UBOS staff pay back almost one billion shillings whom we found culpable of misusing government funds, and this is an interesting case and we shall definitely get involved.”
This year’s International Ombudsman Day will be celebrated on November 6 under the theme, “Here to Hear You,”. It will focus on raising awareness and strengthening public institutions’ capacity to serve citizens better.
Kamya said that the theme highlights the crucial role of the ombudsman in promoting good governance and efficient public service delivery.
She emphasized the importance of the ombudsman as a mediator between citizens and the government, ensuring that complaints such as non-payment of salaries, delayed services, and administrative injustices are addressed.
Kamya also said that the IG has resolved 636 Ombudsman cases and recovered over 9.6 billion shillings in unpaid employment benefits in the last financial year.
Kamya also urged other agencies that are mandated to handle complaints to ensure that the complaints are addressed and feedback provided about action taken or the outcome of their intervention within two to four weeks.
She also called on citizens to report cases of maladministration and engage in grievance resolution to promote a corruption-free Uganda.
