URA, WARID lock horns over sh160m court suit Tuesday - 4th August, 2009

THE Commercial Court has stopped the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) from collecting over sh160m and enforcing other tax collections from WARID Telecoms, pending the final determination of its main suit.

This followed an application by Muwema & Mugerwa Advocates, the lawyers representing WARID Telecoms.
The telecom company is disputing URA’s orders to Stanbic Bank to pay sh160,918,869 in taxes. Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire of the Commercial Court also ordered the parties to carry out a reconciliation exercise to determine if any taxes were due and payable to the URA and report back to him on August 26.

WARID also sued the URA’s Commissioner of Customs for wrongly taxing its duty-free machinery. The firm also asked the court to compel URA to refund with interest a total of sh172,389,883, which it claimed the tax body forcefully paid itself from the company’s general purposes bank account.

WARID was referred to as one of the largest investors in Uganda having invested over $200m (over sh400b) in foreign direct investments.

The company further seeks general and punitive or exemplary damages for what it described as URA’s illegal and wanton acts that are damaging its operations.

The company told Justice Kiryabwire that the Commissioner of Customs willfully and unlawfully imposed tax on palisade fencing that is part of its telecommunications plant and machinery, which is exempt from import duty.

WARID also asked the court to permanently stop URA from enforcing the “third party agency notice” that requires its bankers to pay taxes on its (WARID’s) plant and machinery or any other enforcement measures against it.

The court was told that between September and October 2007, the finance ministry, granted investment incentives to WARID that its plant and machinery was to be imported free of any duty under the investment incentives by the ministry and the East African Customs Union Common External Tariff.

The court heard that the Commissioner of Customs had accepted a list of WARID items to be imported.

Kaveera Makers Secure Injunction on 120 Percent Tax - 23 February 2009

MANUFACTURERS have secured a court injunction stopping the Uganda Investment Authority (URA) from charging the 120% excise duty on polythene bags above the recommended 30 microns.

The manufacturers, through James Kyazze of Shonubi Musoke & Company Advocates, requested Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire of the Commercial Court to allow them pay a 10% duty as they await the court's decision on the matter.

The wrangle follows the Excise Tariff Act Amendment of 2008 that imposed the 120% excise duty on polythene bags above 30 microns.

The manufacturers went to court following threats by URA to sell off their factories to recover about sh7b in tax arrears since the 120% levy was imposed.

"My clients have agreed to pay 10% and this must be deducted from sacks and bags only but not from all the other products they manufacture as stated in the 2008 Excise Tariff Amendment Act," Kyazze told the court last week.

Kiryabwire said URA should accept the 10% duty as court resolves the remaining issue of the levy covering all products.

The Judge also criticised institutions for failing to negotiate with their clients and always running to courts.

"Commercial banks, for example, have made courts their credit managers. Instead of calling their clients to ask what could have made them delay to repay the loan, they run to courts," he explained.

"Some of those cases don't need to be brought to court. You can easily solve them through negotiations. These are your tax-payers who have been here for a long time and are not running away. It is better to negotiate with them instead of selling off their properties," Kiryabwire advised.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200902240082.html

Justice Sebutinde's Star Still Rising - 29 July 2009

YOU probably remember it. That front page newspaper picture of Lady Justice Julia Sebutinde passionately looking at a witness and numbly clasping her lips as her nearly teary eyes intently looked up to the man.

The year was 1999. Sebutinde, then chair of the judicial probe into corruption in the Police, appeared overcome. The witness was shedding tears and the lady justice seemed to struggle to hold back her own.

This was just one of the many sides of one of Uganda's most prominent high court judges. She sometimes hardened, lashing out at arrogant witnesses and commanding them into submission.

She put the fear of God into many otherwise untouchable souls with her calm but often firm tone.

"Today, I am going to have you for lunch and supper," she reportedly assured Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) officers in a much publicised probe into mismanagement of the tax body.

Sebutinde chaired three judicial probes - first corruption in the Uganda Police force, followed by the unscrupulous purchase of junk helicopters by the Ministry of Defence and then corruption in the URA.

At each of these probes, she exercised utmost authority, demanding accountability from errant bigwigs who sometimes tended to take her for granted.

It came at a huge cost, often putting herself and her family in danger but like a wounded lioness she soldiered on, trading her own safety for the restoration of sanity to a corruption-ridden country.

Her timely and thorough findings led to a wave of positive reforms in the Police force and the URA; bodies that were, before her judicial intervention, examples of corruption and mismanagement. For such and many other good works, the lady justice has stood out, but seldom been recognised. But it seems her day has come.

Sebutinde was one of two women recently awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for their outstanding work by the University of Edinburgh.

The award presented to her last month recognised her contribution to justice and improvement of society.

She received the award together with Justice Unity Dow, the first female High Court Judge of Botswana and renowned women and child rights activist. Sebutinde acknowledged the honour with gratitude.

"The fact that a foreign university recognised my work and contribution not just nationally but internationally, in this manner was most exhilarating. The work that we do is often thankless and sometimes even unpopular," she said. Sebutinde and her family were present at Edinburgh University to receive the award that is usually bestowed upon a few outstanding alumni.

For her and those who know her, it has been a long, arduous walk to such a prestigious achievement.

It began in the mid 1970s when she enroled to study law at Makerere University law school at a time when the course was a domain of male bright students. She gave it her all, excelling in a field that seemed to have been a fall-back.

"I chose to study law almost by accident. I thought I could make quite a good doctor but I was weak at chemistry and I quickly realised it was wiser to pursue something else instead. Law seemed the next best thing to me."

She steadily worked through the three-year course, graduating and later attaining a diploma in legal practice from the Law Development Centre (LDC) in 1978.

Her first job was with the Ministry of Justice where she worked for close to 12 years before enrolling for a master's degree in law at the University of Edinburgh in the UK. She graduated one year later with a distinction.

She thereafter worked with the Ministry of the Commonwealth in the UK and later joined the Ministry of Justice in the newly independent republic of Namibia. In 1996, she was appointed Judge of the High Court of Uganda and seconded nine years later to the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Two years later, she was appointed the presiding judge of Trial Chamber II, currently engaged in the trial of the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor.

Throughout her life, Sebutinde has projected an exemplary image.

In school she was the humble but much-focused girl that commanded respect among students. "She was a very serious, focused and religious girl. She concentrated on her studies and was somewhat conservative," recalls Dr Edwadi Kayondo, Sebutinde's classmate at Budo in the early 1970s.

Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire, who first met Sebutinde in church (then active in All Saints church activities) during his student days in the 1970s, describes her as very committed.

She works very hard but also loves telling a good joke and sharing a laugh," says Kiryabwire.

A commissioner at two of Sebutinde's probes, Kiryabwire recalls the long days and nights spent preparing and sifting through reports.

"We sometimes burnt the midnight candle, the deadlines were tight, the workload was immense and intellectually demanding but she never wavered," he says.

Sebutinde grew up in what she describes as a humble home, the second eldest of four children. "My father is a retired civil servant. My mother was a full time housewife," she says.

Hard work, prayer and good manners were to later influence her life. Through Lake Victoria Primary School in Entebbe to Gayaza High School and later Budo, Sebutinde received a holistic education, developing not just academically but also in other important values.

A self-confessed lover of music, Sebutinde says she "enjoys a good book or movie every now and then."

As a busy mother of two beautiful daughters, the lady justice knows the challenges of juggling a busy job and motherhood. But with the support of her loving and supportive husband, John Sebutinde, they have kept the family going despite the distance. "We travel a lot between our two homes. We try our best to spend the holidays together," she said.

For a busy mother, Sebutinde is not leaving anything to chance. "When you are a parent trying to raise two daughters in a difficult world, you want to be the best role model that you can possibly be," she says. She knows her beloved late mother would not have asked more of her.

"I regret that my mother Ida did not live to share such an event. She was a woman, who despite her own limited opportunities, instilled in us the determination that regardless of the challenges along the way, we can achieve anything we want to if we put our minds to it! This is the legacy I have passed on to my children."

Sebutinde might have a few regrets in life, but there is no doubt that she has made the most of what God, her parents and life have given her.

Sebutinde might have a few regrets in life, but there is no doubt that she has made the most of what God, her parents and life itself have given her.

Meet the all-rounder

• During her youth, Justice Sebutinde was an active member of All Saints Church, participating in a variety of activities

• Sebutinde is on Facebook, a social interactive friends network

• She loves Indian cuisine and spicy food. She is a good cook

• She is very good at sewing; used to sew her own clothes

• Sebutinde is a Michael Jackson fan; she has a reasonable collection of the fallen star's hits and albums

• She was a very good singer, often called upon to assist in the school band at Kings College Budo. Sebutinde sang with the famous school choir- The Nightingales and the Joint Heirs - a Christian youth choir

• Pets are her thing. She owns two dogs called Sofi and Cindy

• She is extremely neat and clean. During her school days, she would rush to brush her teeth after every meal to her friends' amusement.

• As an organised lady, she always has all her belongings well arranged.

• She is very particular

• Sebutinde keeps up with the times and knows as much about Beyonce and Usher Raymond as any young person

• She follows soccer quite a bit

• She is a good swimmer, she has been since her school days and used to take her daughters swimming before they grew too big for her to carry them on her back at the pool

• Sebutinde loves a good joke and will join in one

• She is very close to and somehow still looks out for her sister Christine even today

• For a judge of her status and calibre, Sebutinde is a very approachable person