President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni through the cabinet meeting which sat Monday at Sate Hosue Entebbe directed Ministry of Finance to advise Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to drop its intentions of demanding for omnibus disclosure of people’s accounts from banks as this will cause unnecessary turbulence in the banking sector and thus affect the economy.
However cabinet agreed that (URA) should be given mandate to get information on accounts of suspected people but those who pay their taxes and have no bad records shouldn’t disturbed.
The cabinet noticed that this move would bring chaos in the public.
Museveni’s issued the orders after he was consulted by Finance minister Matia Kasaija, who had sought Cabinet direction on how to proceed with the latest URA move, seeking confidential clients’ bank details.
The minister told a cabinet at State House Entebbe chaired by the President that the controversial URA decision had instigated what sources called, “unnecessary apprehension” in the country, and has since provoked angry response from respective banks, including their body- the Uganda Bankers Association, according to local newspaper Daily Monitor.
Museveni, however, wondered who authorised the URA Commissioner General, Ms Doris Akol, to demand clients’ information from the various banks without authorisation from Cabinet.
Other Cabinet sources told this newspaper that when the President asked Kasaija whether he authorised Akol to meddle into the operations of the commercial banks, the minister denied knowledge.
