Uganda Revenue Authority on Tuesday destroyed 13,391 packages of assorted beverages, gins, kombucha and vodka that were seized for not adhering to digital stamps laws in Nakasongola.

URA’s Manager Public and Corporate Affairs, Robert Wamala Lumanyika, who presided over the destruction, said that URA issued several reminders to owners to go to Nakawa, claim their goods and affix digital stamps as stipulated by the Tax Procedures Code Act, in vain.

Currently, 13 products have been gazetted for digital tax stamps and they include beer, spirits, fruit and vegetable juice, soda, wine, mineral water, cement, sugar, cooking oil, any other fermented beverages, any other alcoholic beverages, any other non-alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.

“Each of these is supposed to affix a stamp failure of which the goods are confiscated. The cost of tax stamps ranges from as low as Shs13 per bottle of bottled water to shillings 60,000 for a bulker of cement. The Public should know that this is an allowed expenditure as one is accounting for their taxes’ Wamala said.

“Moreover, the owner can enter into a memorandum of understanding if such goods are confiscated, affix stamps and pay applicable penalties for not complying”.

Products confiscated for noncompliance to Digital Tax Stamps requirements are kept in Nakawa for six months after which such goods are either auctioned or destroyed.

Wamala explained that this particular consignment could not be auctioned as the case for other goods because they need certification from Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS).

“Products without DTS are believed to be substandard and therefore not fit for human consumption. Do you remember the recent deaths registered in Arua after consumption of a spirit called X-5, which had no digital tax stamps?” Wamala said. It is such unfortunate incidents that we need to guard against”.

DTS was introduced on spirits and kombucha on 1st February 2022 and 1st May 2022 respectively.

However, some of the manufacturers affixed fake digital tax stamps in contravention of the law.

According to the Tax Procedures Code Act, a person who prints over or defaces a tax stamp is liable to pay double the tax due or Shs20 million whichever is higher while one found in possession of goods which have no stamps is liable to pay double the tax due or Shs50 million, whichever is higher.

“Penalties are punitive because we want to deter persons from engaging in the practice. Many persons who deal in unstamped goods are actually engaged in counterfeiting thereby creating undue competition from those who engage in legitimate business,” Wamala said.

URA has tried to locate the manufacturers of these drinks but it is facing a challenge of culprits who keep changing their location and brands. The URA operations are aimed at controlling illicit trade and ability to conveniently verify and trace all specified goods throughout the distribution chain.

In the first half of the Financial Year (July to December 2022), the manufacturing sector was the second best contributor to domestic revenue with Shs 2,702.90 billion (22.67%) collected. Out of this Local Excise Duty contributed 919.6 billion. In the same period, the DTS register grew with an addition of 957 clients, representing 751 manufacturers and 206 importers.

Stories Continues after ad

The Inspector General of Government (IGG) Beti Kamya Turwomwe has announced the 2023 roadmap for the next declaration of income, assets, and liabilities of Leaders.

The IGG made the revelation during a press conference at Uganda Media Centre on February 21, 2023.

She said that this year’s declaration exercise will be launched on Wednesday March 1, 2023 in Lira City and will be presided over by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Thomas Tayebwa, who will in effect be the first declarant this declaration year.

The exercise will run from 1st March 2023 and will close on 31st March, 2023 at midnight.

“Please take serious note that there is no provision in the law to extend this period. Therefore any leader who will not have declared by 31st March 2023 will be in violation of the law,” the IGG warned.

The IGG noted that Articles 223 (2) and 234 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda and section 4 of the Leadership Code Act require political leaders and appointed leaders specified under the Second Schedule Part A and the Third Schedule Part A and Part B of the Leadership Code Act, 2002, amended in 2021 to declare to the Inspectorate of Government (IG) their income, assets and liabilities every two years in the month of March.

The previous declaration was done in March 2021.

However, this year’s declaration is only meant for Leaders and not for Public Officers.

The category of Leaders include elected political leaders from LC3 upwards to the President, people appointed by the President for instance, Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Public Institutions, Board Members of Public Institutions and Executive Leaders of registered political parties among others.

Public Officers are also supposed to declare but under a different legal provision. Public Officers are all those people, other than Leaders whose salaries are paid from the Consolidated Fund.

“For this category, the law requires that they declare their income, assets and liabilities within 3 months after being appointed to a government job and thereafter every five years in the month of April. So the next declaration for Public Officers will be in April 2026. But for clarity, only those Leaders specified under the schedule are required to declare starting from 1st to 31st March 2023,” the IGG said.

The IGG said that declarations will be submitted digitally using the IG-Online Declaration System (IG-ODS) which will be opened on 1st March 2023 and closed on 31st March 2023 at midnight.

“In case a declarant needs help, they should seek the support of the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer or Inspectorate of Government Regional Office or selected people in all Government Institutions called Focal Persons who have been trained to use the IG-ODS,” she said.

She also emphasised the fact that there are serious sanctions under the law for non-declaration, over declaration, falsification of facts and anticipatory declaration of income, assets and liabilities.

The sanctions for breach of the Code include fines, warning, caution, demotion, and dismissal from office, vacation of office, and confiscation and forfeiture of illicitly acquired assets, gifts or benefits to the Government.

Stories Continues after ad

The Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) has welcomed new austerity measures by the Government of Uganda as it seeks to contend with significant budget cuts.

The Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, in its Second Budget Call Circular for Financial Year 2023/2024, says there will be no new borrowing next financial year.

It has also suspended purchase of new cars, pay rise and foreign travel for its officials, among others.

According to Mr Julius Mukunda, the executive director of CSBAG, the budget circular is responding to their hitherto calls to the government to spend within its means.

“I think the budget call circular is one of the kinds we have not seen in quite some time. First of all, it’s really responding to the current crisis we are in and also it is drawing from the lessons of the past, but at the same time it’s addressing the cries of civil society,” Mr. Mukunda said.

 “We are in crisis because our debt is increasing while our revenues are not increasing at par. So, they came up and said ‘we need to stop borrowing new loans …. I think this is what any sane person should be doing because you are heading to a debt trap and you don’t want to arrive there quickly,” he added.

According to the budget call circular issued last Friday, overseas trips will only be allowed for heads and deputies of the Executive, Parliament and Judiciary – and other officials travelling for critical security, resource mobilization and case arbitration assignments.

“There will be no new borrowing next financial year and this shall continue over the short-to-medium term so as to minimize the share of Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) revenues being used to service debt in the medium term so as to make more resources available to finance critical development priorities of government,” Finance PS Ramathan Ggoobi wrote.

“Vehicle purchase is frozen in FY2023/2024 with the exception of the purchase of hospital ambulances, vehicles for medical supplies/distribution, agricultural extension services, security and revenue mobilization; spending on workshops and seminars shall be reduced by 50 percent …,” the circular reads in part.

The Budget Framework approved by parliament earlier this month provided for budget support of 2.4 trillion shillings and domestic borrowing of up to 1.6 trillion shillings while external project support would amount to 8 trillion shillings. The preliminary resource envelope for the year has since been adjusted upwards to 50.871 trillion Shillings.

However, it remains to be seen if URA collections can fund the budget.

According to the target set for Uganda Revenue Authority by the ministry of finance, the tax body is expected to raise 28.8 trillion shillings next financial year, with Shs2 trillion being from non-tax revenue. This means the government would have to look elsewhere to get the rest (about Shs22 trillion) needed to meet the spending requirements, and the natural option is always borrowing.

Stories Continues after ad