URA pleads with MPs over Kenyan tax

By Mary Karugaba

The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has appealed to Parliament to put pressure on the Kenyan Revenue Authority (KRA) to drop storage charges levied against Ugandan-bound goods for the period when there was a cash-bond controversy.

Meeting MPs on the finance committee, URA commissioner general Allen Kagina said the fees are likely to affect the revenue collection and the economy.

“Our revenue collection sharply went down when KRA instituted the cash-bond fees. That has been resolved. Our problem now is the storage charges that our traders incurred during this period. We need Parliament’s intervention if you can speak to the authority to have it lifted,” she said.

Kagina complained that sometimes KRA makes decisions without consulting URA, which creates a lot of problems.

The acting commissioner of customs, Stephen Magera, said: “The traders asked us to appeal to the Kenyan authority to drop the charges. It was not the traders’ making, but Kenya’s measure that caused the delay. Why should traders be charged for that?”