LEAD Director, Jimmy Serugo hands over the Award to URA Board Chairman, Juma Kisaame.
The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Chairman Board of Directors, Juma Kisaame has been recognized as the Non-Executive Director of the Year, 2023 by the League of East African Directors (LEAD), an organization that recognizes good corporate governance and leadership.
Jimmy Serugo, the Director at LEAD, says that Kisaame was nominated for the award together with Felix Okoboi, the Board Chairman at Uganda Development Bank (UDB) and Emmanuel Katongole, the Board Chair at Uganda National Oil Company.
According to Serugo, once the nomination was done, the list was submitted to Ernst & Young (EY) for scrutiny. The EY team then picked Kisaame as winner of this year’s award.
Justifying the award, Serugo said that Non-Executive Directors rarely get noticed despite the oversight role they play in the good performance of the organization.
URA, whose Board of Directors is led by Kisaame, collected a record Shs25 trillion in the 2022/2023 Financial Year. In the current FY, the taxman is expected to collect nearly Shs30 trillion.
While accepting the award at the URA headquarters in Nakawa on Thursday afternoon, Kisaame said the award is not just for him as an individual, but to the entire Board of URA.
“The award is not just mine. It’s for the Board,” Kisaame said, adding that the oversight role is played by the entire Board and decisions taken together.
He acknowledged the role the former Board Members continue to play in guiding the current Board.
Entire URA Board joins URA CG John Musinguzi and Board Chairman, Juma Kissame to have a feel of the triple awards.
Kisaame also commended the URA management headed by the Commissioner General, John Musinguzi, for the good job they continue to do in revenue mobilization.
He later received two other awards earlier awarded to Musinguzi as an outstanding leader of the year and government agency of the year. These were from Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA – Uganda). In the government agency of the year category, the URA beat Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and NITA-Uganda.
Kisaame said the awards speak to the milestone the URA has taken in building stakeholder relationships.
He pledged the Board’s commitment to executing its full role towards revenue mobilization.
In his remarks, URA CG Musinguzi said: We are working to see that URA becomes the home of awards.”
He said URA’s focus is to transform from an Authority to a Service organization.
URA Board Chairman Juma Kisaame hands over one of the awards to URA CG John Musinguzi.
Ibrahim Bbossa, the Assistant Commissioner, Public and Corporate Affairs at the URA, said the awards mean taxpayers are appreciating the great role URA plays in the development of the country.
“It is not every day that people you demand taxes from turn around and recognize you. This award is strategic given the direction we are taking,” said Bbossa.
Congratulations Mr Juma Kisaame