The suspects include D/ASP Ali Katende, David Kihara Muthoni (28), Samuel Njeru (36), both Kenyan nationals, and Juma Musisi (28). They are accused of stealing 21,600kgs of coffee beans valued at 383 million Uganda Shillings.
The government, through the Ministry of Works and Transport has given current vehicle owners two-years to migrate to the new digital number plates regime, which has been developed under the Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS).
Julius Twinomujuni, the Commissioner of Police in Uganda’s Department of Anti-Human Trafficking at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, noted that children are increasingly being used to smuggle goods to evade taxes or transport illicit substances across the porous borders of the two nations.
In the new draft policy on Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE), the ministry emphasized that while UPE and USE will remain free of charge, any additional charges or fees approved by the ministry will be collected by URA.
Cumulatively, the tax exemptions on MPs allowances have so far cost the government 638.6 billion Shillings since 2018, according to the Tax Expenditure Report for Financial Year 2022/23, by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
Preliminary reports suggest that Alinga had been suspended from his church over allegations of stealing offertories worth 6 million shillings. Police are investigating whether this suspension is related to the murder.
The police responded and identified the deceased as John Bosco Ngorok, aged 30 years old an employee of the Uganda Revenue Authority under the domestic tax department.
According to Asiku, the then Yumbe Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Innocent Asaba, made a complete payment to the Nile Fishing Company without supplying any motorcycles to the district, contrary to procurement guidelines.
In the first seven months of 2023/2024, government expenditure was 20.68 trillion, out of the 24 trillion that had been planned, with interest payments shooting by 47 billion beyond the budgeted.
“Whereas the protest is purely business and tax related, what our intelligence is gathering is that some politicians are trying to hijack the concerns from the business community to turn them into a countrywide civil uprising,” said Enanga.
The traders say that there has been a huge gap in communication and information dissemination and if not addressed it will be difficult for the tax body to realize its targets.
Erastus Kibirango the LC 5 Chairman of Luwero district says that the district has failed to meet revenue targets due to leakages which include embezzlement, under assessment and issuance of fake receipts among other factors.
“We have engaged the Ministry of Health and the answer they gave us is that now we have a result-based funding in place and Lacor should earn from that and you must do certain activities, have a certain quality to earn this money,” Ogwang told Uganda Radio Network in an interview.
One of the pump attendants explained that smaller car owners no longer want to fuel in the fuel stations opting for cheaper fuel from the mobile dealers.
"Phramacist Ambrose Kamugisha directed me to store medical waste bins containing medical supplies on five different occasions, but his colleagues, most of whom are fellow health workers would come and load the medicines in his vehicle," mortuary attendant Godfrey Lutalemwa says.
The 12-month project co-funded by the Germany Financial Cooperation through KfW, a German state-owned development bank will cover six villages of Lorikor East; Lorikor West, Bibia East, Bibia West, Kaladima East and Kaladima West.
He cautioned that many masqueraders have made themselves too available and effective to the business community that it’s hard for the association to know who the real importers are, but hastened to add that clearing agents should only be those that are licensed by the Uganda Revenue Authority.
The URA Enforcement team has been tracking suspects for some weeks following information that some products had stamps which were not readable by the machines. The alerts on the prevalence of fake digital tax stamps were mainly concentrated in Southwestern Uganda with Star Waragi being the most pointed out brand.
URA officials also agree that some politicians are discouraging taxation, citing areas along the borders. The politicians in these areas claim that if government abolished smuggling, for example, the residents would starve, because that is their main source of livelihood.
“Over the past years, revenue collections have remained low and this is attributable to key challenges that directly impact on revenue mobilisation that include; under-declaration of sales, false refunds and offset claims, a large and difficult to penetrate informal sector (for tax purpose), poor record keeping by taxpayers,” says URA in its defense.
