The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) is on the brink of a nationwide crisis after sending 32 senior customs officers, some with over 30 years of service on compulsory annual leave pending investigations, a move insiders say amounts to a brutal purge of experienced staff.
The August 9, 2025 directive, signed by the Acting Commissioner Customs, orders the officers to hand over duties immediately and stay away from work for at least 15 days while an internal probe into alleged irregularities in consignment clearances is conducted.
The list includes veterans such as Humphrey Agaba, Dennis Maliamungu, Faith Nimusiima, Patricia Musiitwa, Showali Kigozi, Douglas Kaboyo, Major Cherotwo Zaina, Sarah Mirembe, Andrew Bonny Ogwal, Patrick Nakitwijuka, Brenda Natukunda, Hope Cherop, Ronald Mugumya, Catherine Yvonne Zalwango, John Kivimha, Lucy Ikomu, Kenneth Aruho, Nuliat Natukunda, Gerald Mugenyi, Peter Kaahwa, Constance Ndyanabo, Roselyn Mwogeza, Anittah Mukundane, Caleb Kamara, Patience Gloria Achall, and Joan Byekwaso Tezikya.
Sources inside URA say the purge is part of Commissioner General John Rujoki Musinguzi’s wider plan to replace seasoned officers with newly recruited, less experienced staff.
“We are being offloaded to create space for his people. Our ‘crime’ is simply being here too long,” one veteran officer said.
In a dramatic escalation, URA staff across the country are preparing for a massive nationwide strike next week, protesting what they call the Commissioner General’s high-handed leadership and his dismissal of seniors without disclosing their alleged crimes.
Workers warn that operations at border points, customs depots, and the domestic tax network will grind to a halt if the purge is not reversed.
Adding fuel to the fire, traders under the Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) have announced their own protest starting 19th August 2025, vowing to close all shops in the city.
In a public notice, KACITA cited “abnormal and high taxes on goods, Chinese investors operating retail shops in Kampala, kilogram tax on garments, and unfair treatment by UNBS” as reasons for the shutdown.
With URA employees planning a strike and traders threatening to cripple Kampala’s business hub, analysts warn that Uganda’s economy could face a double shock in just one week.
So far, Commissioner General Rujoki has remained silent in public, neither defending the purge nor addressing the grievances of traders.
But inside URA, fear is giving way to fury, and outside, the private sector is aligning against the tax body’s leadership.
If both protests go ahead, next week could mark the largest coordinated show of defiance against URA in its history.
URA spokesperson Robert Kalumba was unavailable for a comment.
