KAMPALA, UGANDA — President Yoweri Museveni has directed the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to release all goods that were confiscated from traders following a recent policy shift in customs clearance, according to a statement from the President’s office.
The directive comes after a change in policy by URA, which shifted from a “groupage” system, where one individual cleared goods for multiple traders, to a new system requiring each trader to clear their own goods using their unique Tax Identification Number (TIN). This change, implemented in April, led to the confiscation of over 600 containers belonging to small and medium-sized traders who were unfamiliar with the new procedures.
During a meeting with various patriotic groups at Hotel International Muyenga, Museveni said he had listened to the traders’ pleas.
“About the traders’ cries, I will tell URA to forgive you that tax, then in the future you can follow the new regulations,” he said.
The President also pledged to meet with traders in the future to further address their concerns. His principal private secretary was tasked with organizing the meeting.
The traders’ concerns were voiced by Hellen Seku, the commissioner of the National Secretariat for Patriotism Corps (NSPC). According to Seku, traders from city arcades under the Federation of Uganda Traders’ Association (FUTA) complained that the URA’s actions had caused “untold losses.”
The president of FUTA, John Kabanda, and the general secretary, Hussein Kato, represented the traders. In a petition shared with Seku, Kabanda argued that there was an urgent need to first educate traders about the new system to prevent future non-compliance.
Godfrey Kirumira, the patron of the Kampala City Traders Association, said after the meeting that the President’s directive was a “huge relief” to many traders.
“Even the dollar had gone down in Kampala because many traders stopped importing goods,” Kirumira said. “We highly congratulate the President for this critical directive. Business will resume in many arcades.”
During the same meeting, the President categorized the people present into four groups. He said the patriotism clubs’ graduates, who number more than 450,000 nationwide, could be a “good force for mobilization.” He asked the patriotism secretariat to obtain their contact information and location, and he tasked Richard Todwong, the secretary general of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), with including them in the ongoing mobilization campaign.
The President also met with enterprise-based groups, including market vendors and social groups like single mothers and bodaboda riders. He advised these groups to form Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies, which he said would be easy to support.
