The suspects are Tom Ronald Omara, Lira City Senior Inspector of Schools, and Ambrose Okot, a bar owner in Soroti who allegedly uses the name William Musinguzi and claims to be UNEB’s head of legal affairs. Jennifer Kalule-Musamba, the UNEB spokesperson, confirmed the arrests in a statement, saying they were made on the first day of the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations.
“The UNEB security team has arrested the Lira City Senior Inspector of Schools, Omara Tom Ronald, allegedly for extorting money from unsuspecting head teachers of primary schools,” Musamba said. She added that Omara allegedly worked with Okot, who is accused of posing as a senior UNEB official to facilitate the scheme.
Under UNEB regulations, the government pays examination registration fees for candidates sponsored under UPE, Universal Secondary Education (USE) and Universal Post O-Level Education and Training (UPOLET). Privately sponsored candidates, however, are required to pay their own registration fees, currently set at Shs34,000 for PLE, Shs164,000 for UCE and Shs186,000 for the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE).
UNEB has repeatedly warned schools against registering privately sponsored candidates under government-funded programmes. The practice is considered fraudulent because schools collect registration fees from parents but fail to remit the money to the Board, resulting in financial losses to the government. Schools found engaging in the malpractice risk being required to pay twice the amount involved, facing criminal prosecution, and having their examination centre numbers withdrawn.
In the latest case, several schools in Lira are alleged to have collected registration fees from privately sponsored PLE candidates, registered them as UPE beneficiaries and failed to remit the money to UNEB. Omara and Okot are accused of subsequently approaching the head teachers, threatening them, and demanding money over the undeclared candidates. The suspects reportedly targeted head teachers of at least 10 primary schools in Lira and allegedly extended the scheme to other victims in Kampala.
Okot could also face charges related to impersonation if investigations establish that he falsely presented himself as a UNEB official. Section 92 of Uganda’s Penal Code Act criminalises falsely representing oneself as a person employed in the public service and assuming to perform official duties. The offence carries a maximum sentence of three years’ imprisonment. Depending on the evidence, additional charges relating to obtaining money by false pretences could also arise.
UNEB has received similar complaints from Kalungu District. Musamba said several head teachers of private schools in the area had voluntarily come forward to declare privately sponsored candidates they had previously registered as UPE learners following reports of the alleged malpractice. In a separate but related incident, Omara is accused of extorting money from Lango College Secondary School after allegedly inflating the institution’s enrolment and candidate numbers while posing as an official from the Office of the Inspector General of Government (IGG).
Meanwhile, UNEB reported isolated cases of schools denying duly registered candidates access to examination rooms over outstanding school fees. The Board has previously condemned the practice and urged schools to allow candidates to sit their examinations regardless of fee balances. In several cases reported on the first day, the affected candidates were allowed to sit after UNEB intervened.
In another incident on the opening day of the examinations, a pregnant candidate from Light Secondary School in Soroti District developed what were initially suspected to be labour pains during the afternoon Chemistry paper. She was rushed to hospital for medical attention, but the pains later subsided, allowing her to return to the examination centre and complete the paper.
As the examinations entered their second day, Musamba said UNEB remained vigilant and urged the public to report any examination irregularities through the Board’s official channels. A total of 503,055 candidates registered for the 2026 UCE examinations. Candidates are scheduled to sit English Language in the morning and History and Political Education in the afternoon.
