Peter Kaujju
11 November 2009
Kampala — THE newspapers this week carried headlines about Uganda's business community failing to convince the powers that be to delay the Customs Union by some five years.
This, in one way may not be good news for the Ugandan business community that has been asking for more time to cushion themselves against competition.
In the continued effort to facilitate trade, top tax administrators from Africa will gather in Kampala for the first time starting November 18-21 to discuss means of improving tax legislation and administration in Africa.
The answer may not be found in extending the grace period but rather in facilitation of trade at all fronts including infrastructure, harmonisation of taxation regimes and general policies on trade.
Economic integration comes with merits and costs and as we mark 10 years of the East African Community, it is key that all stakeholders like revenue bodies, legislators and development partners work to facilitate trade in the region by working to remove both tariff and non tariff barriers.
Besides poor infrastructure, there were challenges in the taxation system like delays at border points while clearing, many road blocks along transit routes and poor communication among tax administrators in the region.
In the field of taxation, several results have been realised in line with trade facilitation in the region.
Mid this year, the Ugandan and Kenyan revenue bodies embraced the one-stop-border center clearance of road cargo.
Initially, importers and exporters had to stop at both borders to clear their goods which was tedious and time wasting.
Now, staff of URA and KRA sit under one roof and clear goods within minutes unlike when it took up to 6 days.
Malaba has registered considerable reduction in clearance time for road cargo since the official commissioning of the road component of the one-stop-border point .
Cargo may not have increased but clearance time has reduced.
Clearance time has significantly dropped to 30 minutes in July 2009 from an average of 11 hours in July 2008.
Also, the cost of doing business has dropped for the importers and transporters as they pay little in demurrage charges of the trucks. This followed the concept that was embraced for railway cargo which started in 2006 and brought together four offices; URA, KRA, RVR Kenya and RVR Uganda.
In the same vein, the URA and KRA embraced the Revenue Authorities Digital Data Exchange which facilitates advance information before cargo arrives at the border points.
URA also embraced a program to automate its processes and systems with the aim of improving on efficiency and serving taxpayers better.
The tax body embraced the electronic based service known as etax which enables taxpayers to transact business like filing returns and paying taxes online from wherever they may be.
The EAC secretary general, Juma Mwapachu said, "We have no choice but to move with the world where regionalisation has taken centre stage." Tears won't help.
Rather, clear strategies in eliminating tariff and non- tariff barriers among others will be the step in the right direction.
The writer works with the Uganda Revenue Authority as a public and corporate affairs officer
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