Three top Uganda Revenue Authority Commissioners have thrown in a towel and resigned from their jobs.
The three are Dickson Kateshumbwa, the Commissioner Domestic Taxes, Henry Saka, Commissioner Tax Investigations and Silaj Kanyesigye Assistant Commissioner large taxpayers office.
Their resignation come at the time when CG John Musinguzi has just assumed office. Eagle Online has established that the problem messing up the former winning team at the tax board was the manner in which Musinguzi came after dropping of former CG Doris Akol. It is stated that an American lady who is believed to be at the centre of the confusion was introduced to the president as an expert on rental tax. However, this lady is said to have met the president through Attorney General before her contract could be issued, sources say she had already misled the president on how she would use Google maps to locate buildings that were reportedly evading rental tax.
Sources further reveal that after meeting the president through her proxies, she was rude to the URA team led by Ms Akol and Finance team led by Minister Matia Kasaija in two of the State House meetings. In one of the meetings, it is said the president asked the two teams from finance and URA as to why they were opposed to her ideas.
“Why don’t you allow her collect the revenues? I don’t care whether she takes 50 per cent of the revenues but what is hand is that we must collect rental tax.Have you been working with these landlords to under declare rental tax? a furious Museveni asked the teams.
However, after the meeting, Museveni is said to have constituted a three man team led by Dr. Era Suruma to study the proposal by the American lady who had just lost out in Kenya since President Uhuru Kenyatta had just dismissed same proposal on rental tax collection in Nairobi. The Dr. Suruma team had Suruma himself, John Musinguzi the current CG and another gentleman. The two rejected the report but Musinguzi is reportedly to have authored another minority secretly which he gave the president and hence thereafter, he was given the CG job.
Sources within URA say majority of the Commissioners and other senior managers have never come to terms with sacking of Akol and more so being replaced by a person who hasn’t been in the management of the tax body. So with the resignation of the three top commissioners, the country should expect more chaos at URA.
“Had Madam Akol been given same attention like Madam Kagina, we wouldn’t have these allegations of under performance but let us wait and see.” But these resignations come at the time when there reports that some senior managers were under investigations for corruption.
