1. KAMAJUNGO URA
Mr. Kamajugo, Commissioner Customs and Bonds, Uganda Revenue Authority, started his presentation by
informing delegates that URA was formed in 1992 to collect government reserve and to ensure sustainable
service delivery by government. He said infrastructure development has come out very clearly as one of the
areas of investment which require funding and most of the funding comes from the taxes that are paid. He
emphasised that development cannot be achieved without taxes.
He said URA has made huge investment so as to provide information about taxes and to make it easy and
convenient for the tax payers to pay taxes.
“Uganda is a landlockedcountry and efforts are being made to develop Uganda into a trade and distribution
hub in the region, which requires that procedures and processes be put in place to encourage people to
trade within the region using Uganda as a base.” The Commissioner emphasised. He reported that there
have been major improvements in the region, infrastructure investment services, improvement of the
railway and road infrastructure as a region to ensure that the whole chain is seamless.
Mr.Kamajugo informed delegates that the cost of doing business has steadily been reduced in terms of the
time it takes to move goods through the process and also focus on compliance is very critical. He reiterated
that sharing compliance information between federated states is being undertaken to accord compliance
companies with similar treatment. “Six months ago a process that would take 15days to clear goods from
Mombasa has been reduced to five days, with huge investment in automation.” He reported. He informed
delegates that URA has improved service delivery and accountability and encouraged people in the
Diaspora to visit URA website www.ura.co.ug for information to guide them to avoid misinformation by
relatives and friends. He said there is need for systems to update them by email, SMS to boost confidence in
using the systems that are put in place. Due to this confidence in the URA system, Mr Kamajugo reported
that URA is able to collect 80% of the government budget and some of the government projects are
financed through locally generated funds.
As he concluded his speech, the Commissioner shared that their observation in the forum was that people
lack information. He ended by informing the delegates that before the budget process, normally
consultations are carried out with various institutions and that they will work with the organisers of the
convention to explore ways of receiving views from Ugandans in the Diaspora as input in the budget
process.