Hope Mafaranga
8 January 2009
Kampala — THE Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has frozen Kamwenge district local government accounts.
The accounts were closed in December after the district failed to remit Pay as You Earn tax to the authority.
The chief administrative officer, Frank Ntaho, said all the district accounts in Stanbic Bank, Centenary and other banks were frozen.
The district owes URA over sh291m.
"All the district activities have been put on halt until the matter is resolved," Ntaho Said.
A source that preferred anonymity said staff was paid in December after the intervention of the local government ministry.
The URA acting assistant commissioner in-charge of public and corporate affairs, Sarah Babalanda, said: "We froze the accounts after writing to the local government three times without a response."
She said the move followed an auditor's report, which discovered that the district had not made any payments since 2003.
The gender and community development officer, Innocent Asaba, said the action had affected the mood of the workers and all activities were at a standstill.
However, the deputy chief administrative officer, John Niwabigaba, said the URA was right to freeze the accounts.
"The matter was a result of laxity in response to tax queries raised by the auditors, yet most were easy to answer," he said.
The district chairman, Edward Musingye, said the commissioner in-charge of domestic tax, Balamau Muhebwa, had agreed to lift the ban.
"The money accumulated after donors refused to have their money taxed," he said.
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