KAMPALA: President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has created a new unit to oversee URA operations and also fight corruption in the tax collecting body. According to a press release from the Presidential Press Unit, this unit will be known as the State House Revenue Intelligence and Strategic Operations Unit.
On top of that, the President has appointed David Kalemera as a senior Presidential Advisor and also the head of the unit. According to this release, this unit will help the government to close all the revenue loss and also increases the tax income.
“The Presidential Press Unit (PPU) wishes to inform the general public that the President of the Republic of Uganda, His Excellency, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has created the State House Revenue Intelligence and Strategic Operations Unit to do an oversight on Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) operations and fight corruption within the tax administration system.” The press release reads in parts.
“The President has also appointed Mr. David Kalemera as a Senior Presidential Advisor and Head of the Unit. The creation of the unit will help the Government close revenue leakages and boost tax collection,” the statement stated in full.
It should be noted that the Uganda Revenue Authority is one of those government agencies where massive corruption has been cited. And any loss by this authority greatly affects all Ugandans since they are the payers to it. It is therefore expected that this unit will help to curb the massive level of corruption alongside other inefficiencies and the State House Revenue Intelligence and Strategic Operations Unit will help a bit.
However, it is worth noting that, the president appointed a former criminal and convict David Karemera who was found guilty of conspiracy to commit a felony C/S 390 of the PCA Cap 120 on 21st April 2022, and the judgment was delivered by Judge Gidudu Lawrence under criminal case no. 7 of 2018 at the Anti-Corruption Court at Kololo.
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The President in the past few months has expressed his commitment to fighting the rampant levels of corruption in the country. Already in place is the State House Anti-Corruption Unit which also aims at addressing corruption amongst different sectors in the country.
