Traders seek to attend Museveni’s meeting with URA

A section of traders have asked their leadership in Kampala Capital Traders Association (Kacita) to write to President Museveni, requesting him to allow the organisation’s leaders to attend the April 24 meeting.
In the forthcoming meeting, URA officials and the Finance Ministry will brief Mr Museveni about the new taxes.

The traders made the plea to Kacita during a meeting held on Saturday to assess the outcomes of the Friday meeting between the President and their leadership in State House, which prompted them to end the strike.

The traders unanimously said there is a need to have a team of their representatives attend the next meeting.
“The issues that have been affecting us are not new and we have been approaching those offices, but they have never been helpful. URA and the Finance ministry view us as competitors,” Mr Ibrahim Serwanga, a trader dealing in garments, said.

Mr Sam Mubiru, another trader dealing in second-hand clothes, wondered why they are not represented in the upcoming crucial meeting, which is going to make final resolutions on the tax grievances.
“If those officials attended our meeting with the President on Friday, why don’t we also be given a chance and at least two of our leaders represent us in the next meeting?”  he wondered.

The Kacita chairperson, Dr Thadeus Musoke Nagenda, said the idea was good.
“It is a good idea which I welcome, but what I can say is that we cannot decide for the President, but if he gets merciful to us and gives us a chance, we shall gladly attend,” he said.

A general meeting between the President and all the traders will be held on May 7 where he will inform them of the final resolutions on their tax grievances.
Traders on Saturday resolved to end the strike after four days and resumed their businesses after their leadership met Mr Museveni.
During the meeting, the traders raised different issues to the President, including the rough enforcement of the Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing System (Efris) by URA, the “unfair Value Added Tax” , Withholding Tax and Chinese operating retail shops in downtown Kampala, a source, who attended the meeting,  said.

“About VAT, the President told us that they [government technocrats] are going to study and analyse it so that by [May] 7 when he is meeting us, there should be a resolution,” the source said.
The Efris system was rolled out by the taxman on January 1, 2021 as an automated compliance process mandating all VAT taxpayers whose business makes more than Shs150m annual sales to enrol on it. It entails the use of Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFD), issuing e-invoices, and e-receipts so that it is easy for URA to track transactions.
But traders protested it saying they were not aware of its functionality.