How new UNBS board plans to fight substandard products

The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) yesterday launched a new board to constitute the national standards council to curb the prevalence of counterfeit products in the country.

The UNBS annual report 2020/2021 states that products worth more than Shs2.5b were destroyed because they did not conform to the standards.

Addressing the audience at the swearing-in ceremony of the new board members yesterday, Mr Charles Musekuura, the new chairperson of the board, said the team of 10 will ensure that the quality of products both on the Ugandan market and for export are of the highest quality through standardisation.

“We are going to fight to ensure that our quality assurance laboratories are spread out across the country and can test any products. We will also approve the standards required for a product to be [of good] quality,” he said.

He added that the body will conduct awareness campaigns so that manufacturers, innovators, and importers know the consequences of selling substandard products.

Mr David Livingstone Ebiru, the director of UNBS, said most of the substandard products are manufactured by small enterprises in undeclared locations.

He, however, urged the government to provide more funding to the body so that it can address some of the challenges they are facing.

“We still require more staff to complete the decentralisation process. We are short-staffed, especially at the border posts,” he said.

Mr Francis Mwebesa, the minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, said: “I urge the board to make sure the UNBS team is helping the public rather than being scouts on the streets just confiscating goods from shops. You find someone in a shop with substandard products but he also purchased them from another seller or another place.”

He added: “Therefore, the board should concentrate on the source where the goods originate from. Focus on the factories rather than the shops who are third parties.”