CEDP PROJECT AT GLANCE! Investigation Flags Idle Offices, Delayed Reforms & Online System Gaps As Govt Defends Billion-Dollar Business Revolution
A major government project credited with transforming Uganda’s business registration and licensing landscape is now facing intense scrutiny after the Auditor General raised concerns about underutilised facilities, delayed reforms and operational gaps that could threaten the long-term sustainability of gains made under the Competitiveness and Enterprise Development Project (CEDP).
But even as the audit exposes weaknesses in implementation, project coordinators and government officials insist the initiative fundamentally changed Uganda’s business environment, cut registration costs, increased government revenue and modernised previously manual systems that had frustrated investors for decades.
The findings are contained in the Auditor General’s December 2025 Value for Money audit report evaluating the Business Registration and Licensing and Tourism Competitiveness Development interventions under CEDP.
The project, funded by the Government of Uganda with support from the World Bank, was implemented over a 10-year period from 2014/15 to 2024/25 through the Private Sector Foundation Uganda with beneficiary agencies including the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB).
CEDP was designed to improve Uganda’s competitiveness by reducing the cost of doing business, streamlining licensing procedures, improving registration systems and boosting competitiveness in selected sectors including tourism.
At the centre of the audit is the Uganda Business Facilitation Centre (UBFC) in Kololo, Kampala, a flagship structure established to house key agencies including the Uganda Investment Authority, Capital Markets Authority and URSB under one roof.
According to the Auditor General, construction of the UBFC was completed and agencies occupied the premises without formal commissioning and handover by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
The report notes that delays in rectifying construction defects and officially handing over the building compromised its “functionality and safety.”
The audit also highlighted what it described as underutilisation of office space by NITA-U and the Presidential CEO Forum on the 9th and 10th floors.
“The delay to rectify defects and formally hand over the UBFC to beneficiary agencies has compromised the building’s functionality and safety,” the Auditor General stated.
The report recommended that the Ministry of Finance address identified construction snags, fast-track commissioning and handover processes and reassess space allocation to ensure optimal utilisation of the building.
However, in an interview with Red Pepper, CEDP Project Coordinator JohnMarie Kyewalabye defended the project, saying implementation was done in consultation with beneficiary agencies and that occupation of the facility followed standard procedures.
“Everything was done in consultation with other agencies as owners. All they wanted was an occupation licence,” Kyewalabye explained.
He added that the Ministry of Finance still intends to officially launch the facility.
“Finance ministry will at any time plan and launch officially,” he said.
Kyewalabye further clarified that some agencies had not yet fully occupied the building because they were awaiting regulatory clearances.
“For instance, Pearly Bank has to be cleared by Bank of Uganda first. Once it occupies it will help on URA payments facilitation within the same building. Immigration also has a desk here. All is all about integration component,” he said.
On the issue of office space, Kyewalabye rejected suggestions that government space was lying idle, arguing that planners deliberately considered future institutional growth.
“Space will never be enough,” he said.
“We predetermined future growth and hence floors 9 and 10 for key agencies in future.”
He said NITA-U’s presence was important because the project required technological integration and a dedicated data centre.
He also defended the allocation of space to the Presidential CEO Forum, saying the move was intended to support private sector advocacy without forcing government to continue renting office space elsewhere.
“There is a lot of advocacy for the private sector. Instead of government renting space for them, we gave them the 10th floor. That was the spirit. We shouldn’t really put emotions in government property. Space there is being used optimally,” Kyewalabye said.
He stressed that even the Private Sector Foundation Uganda, despite implementing the project, did not allocate itself office space in the building.
“We shouldn’t be blamed for non-utilization of the building space. Our component under the project was to construct it. PSFU also never got space there,” he added.
The Auditor General also questioned the effectiveness of the physical One Stop Business Centre operating inside the UBFC, arguing that the facility appears underutilised in an increasingly digital business environment.
According to the report, the project only partially achieved its objective of reducing the administrative burden of formalising businesses because investments focused heavily on a physical facility instead of prioritising stronger online systems.
“The physical One Stop Business Centre at the UBFC is underutilized indicating that it has limited relevance in the current digital business environment,” the report states.
The Auditor General advised the Ministry of Finance to review the continued relevance and effectiveness of the physical centre in improving ease of doing business.
But Kyewalabye maintains that the One Stop Business Centre remains a groundbreaking concept in Uganda.
“It [One Stop Business Centre] is the first of its kind… Seeing government departments sharing same space!” he said.
According to him, agencies including URA, NIRA, Capital Markets Authority, NITA and Uganda Investment Authority operate within the same facility, creating convenience and reducing operational costs.
“Government is saving about sh4bn in rent because of this [One Stop Business Centre] project. There is also convenience due to proximity and sharing of amenities,” he said.
Kyewalabye adds that countries including Rwanda and Kenya are benchmarking Uganda’s model.
“We hope that this model can be replicated everywhere,” he stated.
The audit further examined implementation of business licensing reforms and concluded that although government made significant progress in initiating reforms, full implementation remained incomplete.
The Auditor General faulted the Ministry of Finance for failing to fully operationalise a transactional e-licensing platform and complete rationalisation of licences.
According to the report, these gaps limited achievement of the project objective of reducing the business licensing burden.
The Auditor General recommended completion of pending reforms and upgrading the existing e-licensing portal into a fully transactional system.
Speaking to Red Pepper, Kyewalabye acknowledged that the process remained incomplete but said the reforms had already made a significant impact on the private sector.
He revealed that the project conducted a comprehensive inventory of licences across government and discovered 766 licences imposed by central and local government entities.
“We found 766 licences across government both central and local governments. 540 in 65 government MDAs and 266 licences in Local Government. This was a huge cost to the private sector,” he said.
According to Kyewalabye, the reforms under CEDP project proposed retention of 418 licences; elimination of 45, reclassification of five, streamlining of 290 and amalgamation of eight licences into four.
“This will save private sector sh66.8bn,” he said.
However, he admitted that implementation requires extensive legal reforms including amendment of 64 laws and repeal of four laws.
“People are paying for a lot of licenses. Imagine hotels paying over 16 licences. Why not one licence? Even banks one licence! It burdens the private sector,” he said.
“Licences are important yes but laws need to be revised all the time not to be a burden but service delivery.”
The Auditor General also raised concerns about persistent operational challenges affecting the Online Business Registration System (OBRS).
According to the audit, users continue to experience difficulties in account creation, payment processing, recurring system errors and limited online support, reducing the effectiveness and convenience of the platform.
“These issues hinder the project’s goal of fully reducing the cost and time burden of business registration and limit the system’s contribution to a more competitive and investor-friendly business environment,” the report states.
The Auditor General recommended that URSB improve the functionality of the system, strengthen account management features and improve responsiveness of online support services.
Kyewalabye responded by emphasising the progress achieved since the project began.
“By the time the project started, URSB was conducting business manually,” he said.
“We did data cleanup, organised files and automated services online.”
He explained that business registration services are now about 80 percent online.
“CEDP wasn’t to develop the e-portal but NITA-U. Our duty was to facilitate the process,” he clarified.
He also pointed out that some local governments still rely heavily on manual systems, complicating integration efforts.
“Most of the local government has manual entities and are all not advanced except KCCA on trade licenses. This complicates matters,” he said.
Despite the weaknesses identified in the audit, the Auditor General acknowledged that all four outcome indicators for the Business Registration and Licensing had been fully achieved by July 2024.
However, the report noted that some activities and expenditures were not necessarily critical to achieving those outcomes.
“Results were achieved despite several planned activities not being fully implemented, indicating that some interventions and the related expenditures were not critical to the attainment of the stated outcomes,” the report states.
The Auditor General warned that delayed completion of works, underutilisation of key facilities and partial implementation of reforms could undermine long-term sustainability of project gains.
“These gaps pose a risk to sustaining the project gains and achieving deeper, long-term impacts such as higher tourist spending, improved service quality and strengthened sector competitiveness,” the report cautioned.
Still, project officials insist the broader achievements remain significant.
Kyewalabye said business registration costs reduced by 40.5 percent because of CEDP interventions, while the average time for business registration dropped dramatically from 33 days to just one day.
“Land registration time reduced to 20 days,” he said.
He further revealed that business registration revenue increased from USD2 million to USD15 million between 2014 and 2025, while revenue from land title registration rose from USD3 million to USD30 million.
“Over USD300 million in non-tax revenue has been realised so far,” he said.
Kyewalabye argued that the project also helped reduce revenue leakages associated with manual systems.
“A lot of money was being lost in manual processes. But we have ensured administrative, legal and technological reforms,” he said.
According to him, licensing reforms alone are estimated to have generated sh725.73 billion, equivalent to 3.5 percent of Uganda’s GDP.
As debate grows over whether the project delivered full value for money, the Auditor General’s report has now placed pressure on implementing agencies and the Ministry of Finance to close the identified gaps while preserving gains already achieved under one of Uganda’s most ambitious business reform programmes.
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