By Irene Kabakama
The Commissioner General, John Rujoki Musinguzi together with the State Minister for Privatization Hon. Evelyn Anite commended the investment One Stop Centre (OSC) for easing the way of doing business in Uganda through facilitating access to permits and licenses.
The investment OSC is a single access point located in Kololo housing 14 government agencies that provide information and service transactions for investors. This electronic OSC grants investors access to online services and private sector institutions responsible for investment facilitation.
Musinguzi lauded the centre for facilitating increase in the number of investments and supporting investors in accessing services and information about taxes.
“Being in this centric place with different stakeholders who support investment is a good way to contribute to the economy since the investors are critical people that contribute a lot to our economy. As URA, we are advantaged because we offer priority fast service to investors right from TIN registration to tax education because they need to know their obligations.”
He added that the OSC is a strategic neutral ground, decentralized to monitor investors since it comes with clear Key Performance Indicators.
During this media interview, Musinguzi also cautioned taxpayers to personally handle their tax matters instead of trusting tax agents who end up defrauding them.
In her remarks, Hon. Evelyn Anite revealed that the OSC is the President’s idea aimed at improving the turnaround time for investors to complete all the registration with different agencies within 48 hours, reduce the corruption levels so that these investments kick off for the investors to create jobs since they largely employ Ugandans in their factories.
She added that supporting investors through the center is important in growing Uganda’s export earnings.
“Ugandans were traditionally investing in real estate not manufacturing and this was bringing less value addition, that’s why government had to introduce tax incentives to encourage Ugandans to come in the money economy which leads to value addition and enables them to export,” noted Hon. Anite.
The Minister elaborated that government monitors investors to ensure they employ a number of Ugandans, utilize local materials and contribute to the revenue basket through taxes.
