Tax body, Uganda Revenue Authority has asked parliament to provide it an additional shs167 billion to be able to recruit 1278 new staff to help them improve in terms of efficiency.
In 2024/25, URA has been allocated Shs619.99 billion, with Shs253.5 billion of this going towards payment of wages, Shs321.2 billion going for non-wage expenditure, while Shs45.320 billion will cover development expenditure.
Speaking while appearing before parliament, URA commissioner general, John Musinguzi Rujoki said the tax body seeks to recruit new staff that will help it identify tax loopholes.
“The Uganda Revenue Authority is doing a structural review to improve the efficiency of the organisation to add on to the number of foot soldiers required to do this noble mandate to plug some of the revenue leakages, and this activity hadn’t happened for quite some long period of time. Our proposal is that this recruitment can be spread over time because it would require about shs167 billion,” said Musinguzi.
He added that the shs167 billion needed for the recruitment of staff is part of the shs 224.2 billion needed to fund five priorities that the Ministry of Finance has not allocated resources for.
One such priority is the shs31.5 billion required for the development of an oil and gas monitoring system.
However, URA wants another Shs223.212 billion to fund five key unfunded priorities, among which include the Shs31.5billion that is required to develop an oil and gas monitoring system.
“As we all know, the first oil is expected in 2025, but the current year is when all the investment in extraction and exploration are taking place and we need to effectively monitor and capture all these activities in an automated system. We are currently holding all big investments in manual files, and we need a system to help us monitor and control all these because 80 per cent of the entire sector is happening now before the first oil comes out,” Musinguzi pleaded
URA is also seeking shs14.6 billion to acquire new and replace obsolete computers, shs5.593 billion to purchase a system for automatic exchange of information to aid in tax investigations and intelligence gathering and shs3.620 billion to acquire two more mobile office service buses.
In the 2024/25 financial year, URA is required to collect shs29.958 trillion up from shs29.672 trillion the authority is expected to have collected at the end of this financial year.
Herbert Tayebwa, MP for Kashongi County, said that there is a need for URA to furnish the Committee with details on how the extra shs223 billion funding would translate into increased revenue collection.
“You are indicating that you need shs 223 billion spread over three years, including the coming financial year. I also wish you could compute the impact of this expenditure on the total revenue. If we spend this money as requested, what impact would it have on increasing the total revenue so that it becomes a justification to see whether it is really necessary or not,” said Tayebwa.
Gerald Nangoli, MP for Elgon County, said that the tax body needs to come up with a good system of building the confidence of the staff so that the Authority does not suffer when employees seek greener pastures elsewhere.
“I don’t know if you have interested yourself to know why there is a high rate of labour turnover in URA, people are leaving every day. Is it because they are given unrealistic targets that they aren’t able to meet, and yet we are putting in a lot of money to train these people? Apparently, you even have consultants on board who are training these people day and night, why are these people leaving?” asked Nangoli.
Credit: Parliament Watch
