New State House Revenue Intelligence Unit uncovers Shs600bn losses

Heads are expected to roll within the tax body, URA, following the uncovering of Shs600 billion losses by the newly established State House Revenue Intelligence and Strategic Operations Unit.

This website has learnt that shortly after being appointed as the head of the new unit, David Kalema, a former employee of Uganda Revenue Authority hit the ground running and in three weeks, he has started biting.

“Previously, URA failed to collect a huge amount of money in taxes payable by a group of importers who unscrupulously got tax waivers they are not meant to receive,” a source privy to the matter told this website.

By law, URA is not mandated to give tax waivers.

This website has learnt that the new unit has uncovered many other loopholes through which the country loses revenue and has since reported to the President over the same.

“This shows that whoever thought the unit was merely a paper tiger should now know that work is ongoing and the Commander-in-Chief is taking steps,” the source added.

Panic

This website has separately learnt that some managers at the Nakawa-based tax body have gone into panic mode and are currently guarding themselves.

“Now that they are not aware who might be leaking the information to the new unit, they have locked computers that you can’t access G-mail or use a flash disk while using them.

“This means some of the officials are guarding themselves by ensuring data sharing is limited to permissions for fear of leaking information,” another source said.

Social media was a few weeks ago awash with comments about President Museveni’s choice of Kalemera as the new head of the anti- corruption unit to supervise tax body URA, with many pointing to his past record where he was convicted over tax fraud related charges.

However, this website has learnt that the president’s choice was informed by Kalemera’s background at URA between 2007 and 2017.

It is said that during this time, Kalemera caught Museveni’s eye as a smooth operator.

“In his capacity as a supervisor in the Compliance and Business Analysis Division of URA, part of his main tasks was to always check the URA processes and procedures to ensure that there were no loopholes that could lead to revenue loss,” a source told this website.

It is also reported that as part of this job, Kalemera was the man who headed a team that drafted the Customs Compendium.

“This has all processes and procedures of all sections and units of the customs department. So, it’s clear that Kalemera knows all the processes and procedures. This definitely, cannot leave whoever has been involved in illegalities within URA settled. They must be very scared of his appointment.”

“The panic now is caused by the fact that those involved are worried that he knows the systems and he has already uncovered massive corruption and revenue loss in the books of URA.”

It is also reported that since Kalemera’s appointment, there has been an ongoing plot to run to court to challenge the move by President Museveni.

The President has previously decried the low tax collections in Uganda.

“About rentals; this is cheating; someone who has over 40 units and is claiming that he is building new ones. We are saying that pay tax for the houses. That is why we have very low tax collection,” he said in 2020.

“There is a lot of collusion and people who are not paying taxes. This is corruption. There has been a lot of corruption in the URA but I have thoroughly cleaned it. We have dispersed the URA crowd. We shall clean all other institutions that have corrupt people.”

Speaking during the cabinet retreat at Kyankwanzi, the president suggested that besides under declarations and under collections, some unscrupulous individuals in URA were stealing revenue.