Flush With Cash, Starved of Capacity: Why UNBS Risks Becoming the Uganda National Bureau of Substandards UNBS closed the 2023/24 financial year with record revenues, UGX73.9 billion in non-tax revenue, which was far above its UGX54.4 billion target. But even with such a performance, government did not remit the required UGX60.04 billion. Instead, the agency received only UGX56.65 billion. Additionally, UNBS has just 538 staff, barely 45% of its approved structure of 1,200, which makes it hard for the agency to police a market whose supply of standard goods stands at 58%.

Uganda’s watchdog charged with policing the quality of goods and services is flush with cash yet dangerously hollow in capacity. Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) closed the 2023/24 financial year with record revenues—UGX73.9 billion in non-tax revenue. This was far above its UGX54.4 billion target and sharply higher than the UGX60 billion recorded the previous year. Import inspections also crossed 293,000, well beyond the 200,000 goal. On paper, the regulator looks stronger than ever. But the picture on supermarket shelves tells a different story. More than half of locally produced goods—including food, drinks, and cosmetics—slip through the cracks, entering…