URA to recruit over 1,200 new staff for implementing its domestic revenue mobilization strategy

Parliament has approved Uganda Revenue Authority’s (URA) budget of sh167.88b to recruit a total of 1, 278 new staff to effectively implement its domestic revenue mobilization strategy.

The House heard last week that URA is doing a staff structure analysis and preliminary reports indicate that it will be required to recruit 1,278 new staff at a cost of sh167.88b across the medium term to effectively implement its strategy and effectively collect revenue.

This was during the consideration and approval of the budget committee report on the National Budget Framework Paper for the financial year 2024/25 to 2028/29 on Wednesday, January 31.

Kachumbala County MP Patrick Isiagi Opolot presented the report to the House which was chaired by Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa.

The House recommended that URA be provided with sh55.96b in the next financial year of 2024/25 and the remaining sh111.92b across the medium term to facilitate the recruitment of new staff and effectively mobilise revenue.

The budget committee heard from URA commissioner general John Musinguzi in January this year during a meeting with him that in the 2024/25 financial year, they were allocated sh619.989b of which, sh253.495b will go towards payment of wages, sh321.174b for non-wage expenditure, while sh45.320b will cover development expenditure.

“Uganda Revenue Authority is doing a structural review to improve the efficiency of the organization to add on to the number of the foot soldiers required to do this noble mandate to plug some of the revenue leakages and this activity hadn’t happened for quite some long period of time,” he told the committee on January 10.

“Our proposal is that this recruitment can be spread over time because it would require about sh167b,” Musinguzi added. He appeared together with finance state minister in charge of general duties Henry Musasizi and minister for planning, Amos Lugoloobi.



Parliament also recommended that URA be provided sh9.16b in the next financial year and the remaining sh22.348 across the medium term to develop an oil and gas monitoring system and position itself to process oil and gas information.

Uganda is expecting its first oil in the financial year of 2025/26. However, the House heard, that URA is still maintaining oil and gas records in manual files.

To effectively maintain oil and gas records, URA wishes to develop an oil and gas monitoring system to match the projected developments in that sector and requires sh31.5b, Opolot told the House.