Wakiso, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Four suspected smugglers have been arrested with contraband cigarettes in Wakiso. They were arrested on Friday in Ssenge Village, Wakiso District by Uganda Revenue Authority Enforcement-URA officers, following a tip-off by an informer. Ibrahim Bbosa, the URA Assistant Commissioner for Public and Cooperate Affairs, says …
Read More »URA steps up its fight against illicit trade
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | URA has stepped up its fight against illicit trade through acquisition of a mobile cigarette destruction machine that will be used to destroy illegal cigarettes seized by the authority’s customs enforcement team. The Hammermill is a donation from the British American Tobacco (BAT) to provide …
Read More »District councilor arrested for murder of shopkeeper over cigarettes
Kitgum, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Police is holding the secretary for sports and culture of Kitgum district Youth council over alleged murder. The suspect identified as Denis Oroma, a resident of Pajimo Central in Pajimo parish, Labongo Akwang sub county, is alleged to have assaulted a local business man at …
Read More »Covid-19, gov’t regulations impact tobacco revenues and taxes
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s formal tobacco Industry continues to be impacted by a growing trade in illicit products, attributed to government policies which are otherwise aimed at protecting the industry. These include the implementation of anti-smoking regulations as well as the tax measures that are largely aimed at …
Read More »Beverage, cigarette dealers have 5-days to acquire digital stamps
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Manufacturers and importers of beverages and cigarettes have five days to have their products stamped with the Digital Tax Stamp (DTS), or their goods will not be on the market. The DTS is a machine-readable stamp put on a package of a product to …
Read More »Tobacco responsible for 20% of deaths from coronary heart disease
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Every year, 1.9 million people die from tobacco-induced heart disease, according to the World Health Organization, World Heart Federation and the University of Newcastle Australia ahead of World Heart Day, marked on 29 September. This equates to one in five of all deaths from …
Read More »Coronavirus smokes BATU revenues
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | British American Tobacco Uganda-BATU has reported a revenue shortfall in the first six months of 2020 due to disruptions by the coronavirus pandemic. In its financial statement issued on Wednesday, BATU says its gross revenue fell by 12 percent as a result of low …
Read More »MPs worry over new taxes on cigarettes
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Legislators on the Parliament Committee of Finance have expressed concern over proposed increase of taxes on cigarettes saying they will hit hard tobacco farmers and companies at a time everyone needs cushion to recover from coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. In the 2020/21 financial, Uganda proposes …
Read More »Number of male tobacco users declining- WHO
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The World Health Organization-WHO has projected that male tobacco users will decline by more than one million come 2020 and by five million by 2025. The WHO global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use 2000-2025 third edition notes that the number of male …
Read More »Rollout of URA digital stamps suffers setback
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The proposed rollout of the digital stamp by Uganda Revenue Authority-URA suffered a setback because of an injunction issued by the Commercial court blocking the entire exercise-URN has learnt. URA was expected to roll out the digital stamp by the end of April targeting high …
Read More »