By Andrew Irumba
Untold panic has gripped traders in Kampala after the Uganda Revenue Authority issued a deadline within which they should have cleared all their goods from Mombasa port, in Kenya, and Dar-es-Salaam , Tanzania, on top of paying 100 taxes.
Spy Uganda has learnt that URA officials are undertaking an exercise in which they aim to decongest their warehouses and space at Mombasa and because of this, they want all goods that have overstayed their storage time to be cleared and taken by their owners, or else they will be seized and auctioned.
This means that thousands of traders in Kampala and other parts of the country who imported goods that are in Mombasa are likely to lose billions of shillings when URA starts implementing decision, something that has sparked off the panic among traders.
So as way of getting solutions for this pending calamity, the leaders of Kampala City Traders’ Association (KACITA) have called upon all importers and traders in Uganda to come for an urgent meeting scheduled for Monday October 28, 2019, at Aponye Mall.
According to a notice for the said meeting which Spy Uganda has seen, the traders will brainstorm possible amicable solutions for their problems, seek dialogue with URA officials and all stakeholders, among other deliberations.
However, the notice which is only signed by ‘MANAGEMENT; also indicates that after their meeting, the traders will march to the office of the Minister for Trade and Industry Amelia Kyambadde, such that they can seek her guidance about the matter.
However, our efforts to seek a comment from URA officials about the matter were futile because their phones went unanswered.
