URA boss pledges to uproot corruption

The Uganda Revenue Authority Commissioner General John Musinguzi Rujoki says the Authority is firmly dealing with corruption and will not tolerate any staff who exhibits corruption tendencies.

Mr Musinguzi was on Monday appearing before Parliament’s National Economy Committee which is currently reviewing the impact of COVID-19 on businesses.

“We will definitely do our job firmly and with integrity and accountability. I appeal to the public to always raise corruption incidences in which our staff are involved, so that we can deal with them firmly. We will not allow anybody to be victimized for doing their work just because some individuals are setting a wrong precedence to the authority," he said.

The commitment came after committee members tasked Musinguzi on how he is dealing with the highly connected and sophisticated theft and corruption in URA. A number of them said that the Authority was failing to perform due to high levels of corruption.

Aswa County MP, Reagan Okumu narrated how he encountered a complex case involving a powerful government official whose goods had moved into the country illegally, but was later cleared after he intimidated the entire tax body.

Mr Musinguzi said that they had adopted a zero-tolerance standard for corruption and received information on some of the loopholes in tax administration. He added that the new team is introducing new measures to address the problem.

Uganda Revenue Authority has been marred with corruption scandals over time and although former commissioner Allen Kagina is credited for rooting out the vice, the Authority recently saw the exit of four senior Commissioners over allegations of waiving a tax of up to Shs195 billion during the sale of Sadolin to a Japanese paint firm Kansai paint.

President Museveni while addressing the Nation on the national budget day, said he had sacked a corrupt group of people in URA, saying; "there was a lot of corruption in URA, that one I have cleaned.”