The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Mbale, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Authorities in Northern city division of Mbale city have closed over 200 business premises over non-payment of ground rent and licenses.
According to Martine Busiku, the senior assistant town clerk of Mbale City Northern division, the operation took place Thursday morning in areas like Mission Cell, Nakaloke and Nkoma.
He adds that they want to recover over 200 million Shillings which the division has lost due to tax evasion by those traders for the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 financial years.
Busiku also says that the operation is still going on in the entire division, urging those who have not cleared to do so before closure of their business.
The town clerk adds that activities like road maintenance, opening new roads, paying councilors, paying casual workers have been paralysed due to lack of local revenue.
Samuel Wamundu, one of the affected business persons at Mission cell says that Covid-19 affected them highly which has led to the delayed clearance of ground rent and licenses to Northern division since most of the shops were closed during the lockdown.
Abudala Magambo, the Northern city division councilor, also doubling as deputy speaker Mbale city has condemned what Northern city division did without first carrying out an assessment.
He adds that some business people have delayed paying ground rent and licences because they don’t know the amount of money they are required to pay for their business.
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We are still recovering from the pandemic and its the high time for leaders to understand what people went through. the authorities should carry out mass mobilization and sensitisation first. Do reassessment of the b/nessess and reduce the payments to manageable amounts and also give them some time to collect the money. Because of the current crisis, people can easily respond by fighting back unless the leaders come up with a friendly approach.