As the fight against illicit trade and smuggling of goods rages on, the Uganda Revenue Authority’s (URA) enforcement team has impounded textile materials that were being smuggled into the country from Kenya.

The textile materials were found in two trucks registration numbers UBH 863M and UBL 378Y, that were intercepted in Jinja on January 25 and January 29, 2024, respectively, en route to Kampala. 

According to URA’s supervisor in charge of customs and enforcement in the eastern region, Paul Karatunga, the intercepted goods are valued in taxes and fines of sh230 million that would have been lost if their interventions were not successful. 

Toyota Noah registration number UBN 384Q was intercepted from Kityerera in Mayuge district with smuggled phones.

“We got intelligence information that these goods were being smuggled and we intercepted them in Jinja,” Karatunga said, adding that the goods intercepted included rolls of Gomesi material, wax prints for kitenge and rolls of curtain material. 

Karatunga called upon the public to desist from the vice of smuggling because it is costly on the part of the nation and the part of the business community, adding that if the clients had gone through the gazetted custom points, they would have only paid for taxes of their goods. 

“These goods before us here did not pay any single fee in the form of customs levy and we intercepted them, we evoked section 200 of the East African Community Customs Management Act in relation to the goods and section 199 in relation to the means of conveying smuggled goods,” Karatunga said.

He said the rate of smuggling is slightly high in East Africa due to the many porous points that they may not manage at all times and therefore called upon the public to know their obligation of paying taxes to the government because the government also has a duty to offer social services to its people in various communities.

David Phillip Ofumbo, in charge of customs enforcement in Jinja, revealed that they also intercepted a Toyota Noah vehicle registration number UBN 384Q with 34 cartons of itel feature phones which have a tax obligation of over sh100 million.

“These phones were smuggled into the country through Lake Victoria at a place called Kityerera in Mayuge District,” Ofumbo said, adding that they are still tracing the owner of both the phones and the vehicle.

Ofumbo said that Uganda has a mission of being fully independent but it cannot claim to be independent when it cannot fund its budget 100%.

“According to last year’s statistics, our tax-to-GDP ratio is about 12.9% and what we are collecting as URA compared to what is needed is very minimal,” Ofumba said.

He appealed to Ugandans to be patriotic and they realised the dream of attaining full independence.