The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) has described the newly unveiled National Data Strategy as illegal, irregular, redundant and adds no value to the National Statistical System. Just hours after the roadmap was rolled out at a high-level function, UBOS issued a rebuke, condemning the framework as an encroachment on its statutory mandates.
The controversy follows a grand launch hosted by the Ministry of Information, Communication Technology and National Guidance (MoICT&NG). The multi-year policy framework was pitched by ministry officials as a transformative approach to bridge data fragmentation and drive Uganda’s digital and economic ambitions.
However, in an extraordinary public statement released today, Wednesday, 21st October 2026, UBOS Executive Director and Chief Statistician Dr. Chris N. Mukiza fiercely pushed back. Dr Mukiza stated that the Bureau learned of the launch with “great concern” and directly questioned the Ministry’s legal authority to spearhead data collections and frameworks.
According to the statistics body, the MoICT&NG’s newly introduced strategy directly breaches the provisions of the Uganda Bureau of Statistics Act 1998, Cap 333. The legislation establishes UBOS as the principal agency tasked with collecting, coordinating, monitoring, and supervising the entirety of the National Statistical System.
In the signed statement, Dr Mukiza declared that “the launch of that ‘National Data Strategy’ is an existential threat to the UBOS Act and is, therefore, illegal, irregular, redundant and adds no value to the National Statistical System.” He further reinforced that “the MoICT&NG has no legal mandate to spearhead matters incidental to statistics. That mandate is vested with the Uganda Bureau of Statistics.”
UBOS maintains that the core areas the new policy purportedly intends to address are already comprehensively catered for under existing legal structures. These include the Plan for National Statistics Development—which covers the entire National Statistical System—the UBOS Strategic Plan, and the Data Quality Assessment Framework.
Consequently, the statistics body issued a stern warning to the general public regarding the new policy document. DrMukiza noted: “The Public is strongly advised to treat the impugned ‘National Data Strategy’ recently launched by the MoICT&NG with the utmost contempt it deserves.”
UBOS maintains it will not cede its regulatory space. The Bureau concluded its statement by reassuring stakeholders that it “remains steadfast and committed to providing high-quality central statistics services for evidence-based planning, policy formulation and decision making.”
