Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has been recognized as the most innovative institution in East Africa at the regional Chief Information Officer (CIO) 100 East African Awards 2019.
URA’s Assistant Commissioner- IT James Kizza was also awarded the Chief Information Officer (CIO100) of the year 2019 in East Africa for his crucial role in the trail-blazing digital development of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
According to the CIO100 judges, the role of the chief information officer (CIO) is evolving at a breakneck pace, and only the executives who advance in lockstep will enjoy prolonged success as they better the enterprises they dedicate their energies to serve.
Upon receiving the prestigious award from Joe Mucheru, Kenya’s ICT Cabinet Secretary, Kizza said, it was an expected win though it took a long walk considering that 26 years in public service.
URA has in the recent years embarked on employing ICT based solutions not only to ease trade but also improve on national revenue mobilization.
For example, digitalization in URA stands at close to 96% of the business; the filing of returns stands at 100%.
Additionally, URA currently interface with all government agencies for purposes of receiving government payments including university fees from all public Universities. This is because of the innovative payment solution put in place and adapted by banks, and various agencies, which is self-reconciling and lends itself to the nature of our environment.
URA also embraced the Single Customs territory system in which Clearance of goods in the EAC region is at available Mombasa and Dar-es-salaam. This has helped in eliminating barriers to trade and reducing costs of doing business along the transit corridor, it reduced clearance times from 18-22 to 4 days and 87% reduction in documentation.
EAC region has also the Electronic cargo tracking system, which is implemented in Uganda to have uniform system across the region including most recently DRC.
Additionally, URA recently introduced Digital Tax Stamps, Electronic Invoicing – Electronic fiscal devices, Nonintrusive Inspection together with smart gates to better manage services at the borders and improve client experience from a wait time perspective.
