Eng. Dr. Ben Manyindo has retired from the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), which he had served for twenty-two years.
According to the UNBS communications office, Dr. Manyindo bowed out at the start of this month.
“Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) wishes to inform the General Public and all Stakeholders that its long-serving Executive Director, Eng. Dr. Ben Manyindo has retired from UNBS Service with effect from 1st November 2020,” the communications office said.
David Livingstone Ebiru, who has been a deputy executive director, will serve as the executive director until Dr. Ben Manyindo’s replacement is found.
“… Mr. David Livingstone Ebiru who has been the Deputy Executive Director in charge of Management and Financial Services at the Bureau has been appointed as the Acting Executive Director until the process of recruiting the substantive Executive Director is concluded,” the communications office said.
Dr. Manyindo has been hailed for growing the bureau’s infrastructure and service delivery system during his tenure of service.
He joined UNBS in 1998 as deputy executive director in charge of Technical Operations.
He became the bureau’s executive director in 2012.
In its Annual Performance Report for the FY 2019/2020, UNBS said 2705 Ugandan products had been certified to access regional and international markets.
“During the FY 2019/2020, UNBS undertook Product Certification and Management Systems Certification to improve the quality of locally manufactured products so that they are able to access regional and international markets,” Dr. Manyindo said while releasing the report.
According to the report, there was an increase from 1350 products certification permits in FY2018/19 to 2705 permits in FY2019/20. UNBS also saw an exponential increase in the number of Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) seeking certification.
“During the FY 2019/20 we registered 1168 MSMEs and visited 304 MSMEs for on-site technical assistance and gap analysis. 1068 MSMEs visited UNBS and were provided with technical advisory services (compared to 929 MSMEs in FY2018/19), to build their capacity to apply standards and produce products that conform to standards thus contributing to the government’s export promotion strategy,” the report says.
“The shortfall was due to; failure by a number of MSMEs to pay fees for both testing and auditing despite registration, failure by MSMEs to address gaps in conformity to standards identified during certification, low technology base among MSMEs, Shortage of staff to handle the increased number of applicants to assist MSMEs through the certification process and of course challenges imposed on the sector by Covid-19 pandemic.”
Revenue
UNBS generated and remitted Shs38.2 billion in non-tax revenue to the Consolidated Fund in the FY 2019/2020, constituting 64% of the released budget during the year.
The total approved budget for FY 2019/20 was Shs68.9 billion of which Shs59.7bn was released by end of the Financial Year.
UNBS’ core mandate is to develop, promote and enforce standards to ensure competitiveness of locally manufactured products and to protect the health and safety of consumers and the environment against substandard products.
