Uganda Baati hailed for tax compliance, partners with URA for anti-counterfeiting efforts

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has commended Uganda Baati for its consistent tax compliance and commitment to integrity. This was during a meeting between the URA Customs Commissioner, Abel Kagumire and the team from Uganda Baati led by the Business Head, George Arodi.

During the meeting, Kagumire applauded Uganda Baati for being a consistent tax-complaint partner and also congratulated the team on their milestone ahead of their 60th anniversary celebration this year. “We congratulate you as pioneers of the steel sector for the role you have played and continue to play in the economy, and for maintaining the excellence and quality mark in the building solutions industry,” he said.

Uganda Baati’s Business Head, George Arodi also recognized the URA’s endeavours in clearing the bottlenecks when it comes to clearance of imports and exports especially in the manufacturing business.

“Uganda Baati is part of the Authorized Economic Operator program, and we have seen seamless execution with the cross-border trade, and this has also fostered a culture of compliance for our team,” Arodi said.

Additionally, the Customs Commissioner probed Uganda Baati to partner with them on skills building for their team.

“We want our teams in the field to have practical industry knowledge, we hope to benchmark or partner with Uganda Baati and forge ways to entrench this knowledge into our staff. The practical understanding of the manufacturing industry can guide policy formulations and ease their duties too,” Kagumire emphasized.

Furthermore, in the discussion, Uganda Baati and the URA team both hinted at the importance of enactment of stringent policies to help combat counterfeits and substandard goods. “The entrance of these goods into the market devalues the quality products creating big loss margins for complaint market players,” the Uganda Baati Business Head expressed.

The Customs commissioner reassured saying, “We are actively enforcing customs regulations and conducting inspections at ports of entry, to prevent entry of substandard and fake goods into the country, stand rest assured that we are heavily acting upon this to eradicate this vice.”

Kagumire expressed his appreciation for the deliberate engagement and called upon other sector players to emulate Uganda Baati’s endeavors in being a compliant partner.