Uganda Revenue Authority lauds Uganda Baati for compliance

 Uganda Revenue Authority has continued to implore and encourage compliance, especially in the private sector, emphasizing the importance of integrity.

This was during a meeting between the URA Customs Commissioner, Abel Kagumire and the team from Uganda Baati led by the Business Head, George Arodi recently.

During the meeting, Kagumire applauded Uganda Baati for being a consistent tax-complaint partner and also congratulated the team on their milestone ahead of the 60th-anniversary celebration this year.

“We congratulate you as pioneers of the steel sector for the role you have played and continue to play in the economy, and for maintaining the excellence and quality mark in the building solutions industry,” Kagumire said.

George Arodi the head of Business at the Uganda Baati also recognized the URA’s endeavours in clearing the bottlenecks when it comes to clearance of imports and exports especially in the manufacturing business.

Arodi also explained that Uganda Baati is part of the Authorized Economic Operator programme, and we have seen seamless execution with the cross-border trade, this has also fostered a culture of compliance for our team.

Abel Kagumire (left) the Uganda Revenue Authority Customs Commissioner with George Arodi the Uganda Baati Business Head after a meeting with URA officials and Uganda Baati on February 15, 2024.

Additionally, the Customs Commissioner probed Uganda Baati to partner with them on skills building for their team. “We want our teams in the field to have practical industry knowledge, we hope to benchmark or partner with Uganda Baati and forge ways to entrench this knowledge into our staff. The practical understanding of the manufacturing industry can guide policy formulations and ease their duties too,” Kagumire emphasized.

Furthermore, in the discussion, Uganda Baati and the URA team both hinted at the importance of enactment of stringent policies to help combat counterfeits and substandard goods. “The entrance of these goods into the market devalues the quality products creating big loss margins for complaint market players,”

The Customs commissioner said, “We are actively enforcing customs regulations and conducting inspections at ports of entry, to prevent the entry of substandard and fake goods into the country, stand rest assured that we are heavily acting upon this to eradicate this vice.”

Kagumire expressed his appreciation for the deliberate engagement and called upon other sector players to emulate Uganda Baati’s endeavours in being a compliant partner.