By Otim Nape
Recently, three Ministers David Bahati, Persis Namuganza and Evelyn Anite convened a crisis meeting of farmers, growers, manufacturers, processors and exporters of sugar to inquire into the applicability of the Premier Robinah Nabbanja’s prior written directive banning the weigh bridge operations.
Held at Kampala’s Imperial Royale Hotel, the meeting was convened on the orders of Speaker Anita Among who had been petitioned by the aggrieved players who accused the prime Minister of siding with sugar giants Kakira and Kinyara who were accused of fearing competition and seeking to strangle newer smaller manufacturers. At the end of the day, it was resolved weigh bridges stay but get regulated through a statutory instrument by the Minister guiding on their operations.
But during the meeting, Mr. Abbey Katumba who represented URA attracted extreme resentment when he advocated for the abolition of the weigh bridge operations which he said were complicating tax administration activities by URA and thereby enabling tax evasion. Katumba, who accused the three ministers of treating the loudy out growers with kids gloves, sided with the sugar giant manufacturers’ demands and indeed sat near delegation members from Kakira sugar.
All this combined to attract resentment towards him at the meeting. He said that there are clear indicators that sugarcane production and manufacturing and exportation of sugar was all growing in volumes, yet tax collection from the sub sector had stagnated for years without growing. He said the abolition of weigh bridges would be a good start for URA to begin establishing how all the relevant taxes that are payable and due can be recovered 100%.
Focusing on Busoga sugarcane growing areas, which he seemed to be very familiar with, Abbey Katumba said the sub region has roughly 40 weigh bridges scattered in the different districts, which makes it hard for URA to adequately enforce tax obligations deriving from sugar-related activities.
He demanded that weigh bridges should be centralized at the sugar factories so that URA officers can be there and effectively verify tonnage to obtain all the relevant information. Out growers resented this centralization because it’s very costly to deliver their cane because of the attendant transportation costs and exposure to accidents and potential thefts.
Before Abbey Katumba would even finish his submission as the audience heckled, Evelyn Anite shut him and asked the organizers to take the microphone away as Bahati ordered him to resume his seat. Bahati demanded that URA officers stop playing around with the sugar industry because it’s currently contributing 4% (roughly Shs1trn) of the total taxes URA corrects. The same industry is responsible for more than 10% of the country’s GDP. Bahati, supported by the other two Ministers, demanded that URA treats out growers with the respect they deserve because they are a core component of the entire sugar chain.
Namuganza, who was the most outspoken of the three, rebuked Abbey Katumba and the entire URA leadership by calling them lazy. “Hon Bahati those guys are simply very unserious. We give them enough money in Parliament to even recruit staff. Now what sort of laziness is this? Why are you continuing the armchair approach? Go tell your bosses to use the money we give them to recruit enough staff to go to where the weigh bridges are and assess and collect the relevant taxes. We can’t close down weigh bridges because URA bosses have opted to be lazy. It’s you who should go where taxable activities are and you can’t come here and demand shutting down of weigh bridges, well knowing that knocks many of these people out of their livelihood,” Namuganza said before thanking the out growers who dominated the audience for ensuring that Abbey Katumba, the URA rep, wasn’t allowed to speak because he was making unhelpful submissions.
URA was to be bashed even more when Bahati demanded for the list of all sugar manufacturers and their respective contribution to the country’s overall tax collection. Bahati had wanted a list clearly showing which sugar manufacturer paid how much in taxes last FY. Abbey Katumba didn’t promptly have this information, and this remained the case for hours, even after Bahati allowed him to move out and call colleagues at the office to send him the information.
The list was never produced up to the end of the meeting yet Bahati had wanted to refer to the same in his closing remarks. This collectively angered the three Ministers and people in the audience who agreed to take this as evidence of the extent to which the taxi man doesn’t appreciate the role the sugar industry is playing to Uganda’s national development and transformation. The three Ministers demanded that URA begins taking the sugar industry more seriously by putting in place clear literature pertaining to the sector.
At the same meeting, agronomists and RDCs from the sugar-growing Busoga districts made a case against Kakira while defending the need to keep the weigh bridges open and active in the field where they have always been decentralized as opposed to centralizing the way URA’s Abbey Katumba was advocating. The RDCs asserted that by messing up with the out growers, the sugar giants of Kinyara and Kakira were inadvertently creating security problems which have the potential to make Uganda ungovernable for President Museveni. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
