Traders operating businesses in Kampala City have maintained and urged that President Museveni suspend the Electronic Fical Receiving and Invoicing System (EFRIS) and taxes on kilogrammes of clothing in order for the businesses to run smoothly.
Dr. Thadeus Musoke Naggenda, the Chairperson of the Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA), made remarks during the traders meeting with Museveni at Kololo independence grounds on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.
He added that President Museveni should halt EFRIS because it does not favour traders with small capital to operate in Kampala.
Naggenda said that when traders met President Museveni at State House Entebbe, they realized that he was in the same spirit as the traders, but some government officials tend to divert from his directives. He added that some government employees harass traders while enforcing taxation policies.
“You are always with us, but those you always send to us from different ministries don’t do enough to clarify some taxes and trade policies to traders. We ask you to continue meeting us at least once a year to discuss the issues that affect traders in different parts of the country,” Naggenda said.
He also appealed to Museveni to support local banks in giving loans to traders because loans from foreign banks come with higher interest rates, stating that it has impoverished some Ugandans.
Naggenda said that traders are annoyed with Parliament because they pass laws that inflict the traders, warning that they (traders) will start to work against them by fronting their colleagues to contest for MP seats.
Kabanda John the leader of the Younger Generation Traders Association appealed to Museveni to engage the Uganda Revenue Authority policy enforcers to stop harassing traders over failure to use EFRIS, adding that URA does not follow up on the people who use EFRIS to know how it is affecting traders.
“EFRIS is not user-friendly because most of the traders are uneducated, and if you make any mistakes with it, the URA enforcers penalize you, yet most of them are using loans as capital. I tried to use EFRIS and also tried to teach my employees, but they also failed because they were not educated. I request that it be stopped,” Kabanda said.
According to Issa Ssekito, the deputy spokesperson of KACITA, some ministers have misled Museveni because they bring in fake investors, yet many genuine local investors have been denied land to invest in their country.
President Museveni is set to meet the traders again on June 20, 2024, at Kololo independence grounds to finalize the issues affecting traders in Kampala City.
