URA Official Appeals to Stakeholders to Fight Smuggling in West Nile

ARUA. The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) official has appealed to the different stakeholders in West Nile to join hands with the tax body in the fight against smuggling in the region.

The appeal was sounded by Frank Abaho, the Acting Manager Northern Region Customs Enforcement, during a press briefing in his Arua office over the weekend.

According to Abaho, the government of Uganda loses on average, Shs2.5bn every month through smuggling in the Northern region which he said is quite alarming.

He noted that this year alone, as URA, they are mandated to collect over Shs38bn from the Northern region but their effort is always being hindered by smuggling across the border with DR Congo and South Sudan.

“In West Nile specifically, there are a lot of revenue leakages through smuggling and the most common one is round tripping. Round tripping means goods that are destined to our neighbors in Congo and South Sudan, they go and once they reach the border, they just get a store there, they are offloaded and slowly by slowly our boys keep bringing them back. So, you find in one month, the whole container destined to Kaya is back in Arua using boda bodas,” Abaho said.

“We also lose revenue through unregistered motorcycles. If you move around town here, you will see numberless motorcycles. Numberless motorcycles here take three forms; there are those who have totally refused to register, there are those who have forged number plates and we also have those ones who have shared number plates. He comes, pays taxes, gets the two number plates; the front and back, he gets one and gives it to the other person. So, before you know it, we have two motorcycles sharing the same number plate. It means we collected revenue for one and we lost revenue for the other,” Abaho explained.

He said yet recently they had motorcycle registration promotion exercise for six months and later extended it for another three months.

“We managed to collect around Shs2.7bn in that promotion and we registered 4,386 motorcycles. After that promotion, we still noticed that there are some motorcycles which are not registered. So, those are the forms of revenue leakages we have here in West Nile and we are not happy with that vice, not only as URA but as a country and as a region,” Abaho stated.

He observed that people in the West Nile region smuggle fuel which is allover the streets, cooking oil, soap, rice, sugar, cigarettes among others.

Abaho said all those come as exports destined to the neighboring countries but end up in Arua and other parts of West Nile.

“As URA, not only do we lose revenue but there are also other effects of smuggling. One; like the loss of lives. Recently, we heard of families where children have been burnt by fuel in the house. You allow them to sleep in the house with jerrycans of smuggled fuel but before you know, the house catches fire. Insecurity; smuggling is not only an economic threat; it is also a security threat. You may think someone is bringing in rice or cooking oil but every time they come, they bring in a gun from South Sudan which will be turned against innocent people,” Abaho remarked.

He also said the numberless motorcycles are the ones being used by criminals, adding that they shoot you and abandon the motorcycle and you will have nowhere to start from.

“Smuggling has led to the collapse of other genuine industries here. Manufacturers start up companies and factories but within a year, they collapse because they can’t sell, they are competing with someone who is smuggling. When such factories collapse, there is unemployment. But also, there is market price distortion. Across here, there is a petrol station called Hass, there is Total, there is Shell, their rate of fuel is Shs5000 per litre but in front of the petrol station there is some one selling fuel at Shs3000 and we are in the same area, so what do you expect?” Abaho asked.

“All said and done, an illegality is an illegality, don’t leave this task to only URA. Whether we cover it, whether we benefit from it, whether we defend it, an illegality is an illegality, and smuggling is bad. Therefore, I want to call upon all stakeholders that let us combine efforts and fight this vice. So, the politicians, the political leaders, the church leaders, the civil servants, the media, the business community, the schools, let us all stand together and fight smuggling,” Abaho appealed.

Relatedly, Clair Sanyu, the Customer Engagement Officer, said as URA, right now they are still on the journey of sensitization on the need for people to desist from smuggling and embrace payment of tax for the betterment (development) of the country.