By Joachim Twino
On Thursday, URA boss Dorris Akol led a large delegation of officials for a tax payer stakeholders’ engagement meeting for the business community in Greater Masaka. It was an early morning engagement and on her way to the venue, Akol stopped over in Nyendo where she was briefly hosted at OKOA Refuge, a charity organization running orphanage programs.
At hand was the top management, the children and their matrons to receive her. The very impactful orphanage has existed for 11 years now, a period during which lives have been transformed and would-be wasted destitute children given hope for a better future.
By insisting on retaining or dealing with only service providers and suppliers that are tax compliant, the OKOA Refuge organization is considered by officials at Masaka URA offices as one of the valued partners in tax administration. Its home to children aged months up to 17 years. These are mostly abused children or domestic violence victims from the homes surrounding greater Masaka.
At the time Akol arrived, over 92 infants were at the facility and cheerfully looked on as the URA delegation handed over blankets and other bedding materials. Project Manager Tomas Sankara commended URA for the generous offer which came as part of URA’s broader Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) outreach program.
Sankara said the URA contribution meant a lot to them as management as money that would go into purchasing new blankets has now been saved and will be re-allocated to other activities that are crucial to the proper running of the orphanage. It was a brief stopover strictly lasting not more than 30 minutes because Akol was cautious not to reach late for the larger meeting with the business community in Masaka town.
She had to be there by 9:30am and she indeed did. In her brief remarks, Akol thanked OKOA Refuge management for reaching out to so many children that would ordinarily have had no chance at education and leading decent lives.
As she handed over the blankets, Akol remarked that it takes a large heart for one to cater for children that are biologically not his given the contemporary financial constraints under which many operate these days.
Sankara separately explained to Mulengera news that this was a follow up donation as the same charity organization was a beneficiary of goodies like rice, sugar and soap in 2017 when they were visited by teams from URA Masaka office.
Besides children resident at its Nyendo facility, OKOA Refuge supports other vulnerable children with school fees and other scholastic materials including in the Masaka neighborhoods of Nkoni and Kaasoka. This is all done under their Community Empowerment Program (CEP).
There is also plenty of emphasis on Bible study programs to ensure that besides the physical, there is also spiritual and emotional nourishment of the children benefiting under the OKOA Refuge intervention. Herself, a devout practicing Christian (Catholic), Akol was specifically fascinated to learn about the emphasis on the spiritual nourishment of the children who are often re-integrated with their old or new foster families on attaining the age of 17 years. On getting a brief from management and her Masaka staffers, the URA boss left convinced that OKOA Refuge was one of greater Masaka’s most credible charity organizations.
She then headed to the Masaka meeting venue where she was among others joined by leaders like Bishop JB Kaggwa, MP Mathias Mpuuga, RDC Herman Sentongo and Minister Vincent Sempijja who represented VP Edward Sekandi. Even here local residents showed great appreciation to the URA leadership for decentralizing and prioritizing tax education which they confessed has enabled them become knowledgeable and operate their businesses more profitably. See more in photos. (For comments, email us on mulengera2040@gmail.com).
