Mr. John Rujoki Musinguzi, the Commissioner General at Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has been honoured with a Peace Award in recognition of his exemplary tolerant and reconciliatory approach to performing national duties.
Always Be Tolerant Organization (ABETO) Africa Award is a coveted recognition accorded to people who greatly impact their countries.
ABETO was started in 1995 as a non-government organisation following a call from her Majesty the Queen of England during the Commonwealth general assembly in 1995 in Harare Zimbabwe.
A total of eight individuals scooped the awards. These are, in no particular order: Mr. John Rujoki Musinguzi, the Commissioner General at Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Dr. Barirega Akankwasah – NEMA, Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa – Minister for Energy and Mineral Development, Dr. Monica Musenero – Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation; Dr. Johnson Byabasaija – Prisons, Lady Justice Jane Frances Abodo – DPP, Dr Charles Kiyaga – ministry of Health, and H.E Godfrey Kirumira – Namibia’s Counsel to Uganda.
The Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development, Betty Amongi Ongom who presided over the colourful event at Hotel Africana in Kampala on Thursday, July 20 said all the awardees are people of great integrity that are being honoured for their personal efforts in national development.
“You have been judged, analysed and your work has been found to be fair by giving equal opportunities to all persons. You have contributed to the co-existence and tolerance,” Amongi stated.
“This award is a motivation for individuals to work for peace in their organisations. Therefore, I thank you for promoting the values of inclusion and co-existence in this country,” she said.
Minister Amongi a 2022 ABETO peace awardee noted that humanity is grounded in diversity along lines of politics, religion, tribes and values, among others, which sometimes cause intolerance.
She called on Ugandans to work and live together in harmony as the only way to development.
“Uganda’s Constitution was drawn up with hindsight to allow all segments of society to co-exist, be it gender, religion, tribe or race. Our role is to execute and see how we attain harmony. Each one of us here has an opportunity to individually implement tolerance and non-discrimination.”
Mr Moses Musana, the chairman and founder of ABETO commended the URA boss for transformational leadership including growing the country’s revenue collections.
“Musinguzi is being awarded this year because of the great impact of his leadership at URA in spearheading the team towards achieving Uganda’s economic independence. As ABETO, we recognize your great efforts,” said Musana.
Dr. Livingstone Sewanyana, the Founder and Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) also commended Musinguzi’s job in transforming URA.
“As a revenue collector, it is important to understand why tax is being collected, whether everyone is paying their share of tax with the understanding that burdening only a few individuals is inappropriate. It’s not about you, it is about the service you render to the Public”, Livingstone reckoned adding that ultimately it is about peace, tolerance, freedom, respect for human rights and eradication of poverty.
Musinguzi dedicated the award towards the tax collectors of Uganda for their willingness to fully embrace the responsibility to grow Uganda.
“I appreciate and humbly accept this award. In the last three years at URA, we have registered revenue increments in 3 digits. Over the last financial year alone, we grew revenue collection by 16.7%, which is about UGX 5 Trillion and we are still doing more. All this was done without introducing new taxes but rather broadening the tax base. With tolerance and peace, URA is going to further increase the number of taxpayers so that everyone can contribute their share of tax to Uganda,” noted Musinguzi.
Revenue compliance
Experts say the steady rise of Uganda’s revenue growth is due to several compliance measures adopted to unlock revenue.
These include the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution to resolve tax disputes with taxpayers where the taxman has collected UGX over 300Bn through amicable settlements.
URA continues to encourage taxpayers to take up the voluntary disclosure avenue by doing a tax health check to clean their tax accounts without being penalized.
URA has also leveraged the use of technology and data analytics to enhance revenue collection, compliance, and identification of potential revenue as well as enhancing support to taxpayers.
For instance, URA has rolled out Digital Tracking Solution and Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing System which are improving Local Excise Duty and VAT collections respectively.
Internally, Musinguzi has strengthened the human resources function by advocating staff integrity through lifestyle audits and having a zero-tolerance for corruption.
