General News
Tumuhimbise walking out of his office to address the traders in Busia town on Friday
By Egessa Hajusu
PERSONS with disabilities doing business in Busia town have asked the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) enforcement officers to stop confisticating their goods.
Over 100 members of the group on Friday stormed the office of the resident district commissioner (RDC), Robinah Nabanja, but she was not in.
They then turned their anger on the district internal security officer, Aaron Tumuhimbise. The traders said they had reported cases of torture, harrasment and confistication of their goods by URA officers, but no senior officer in the district had addressed the problem.
โWe are told that you are the one keeping all the guns in the district and that is why we have come so that you shoot and kill us,โ Juma Ogwang, a member of the group, told Tumuhimbise.
Yahaya Wangudia, the group chairperson, said URA officials had made their lives difficult, adding that they had got loans from banks for their businesses.
He noted that about 200 persons with disabilities buy goods from the Kenyan side of the border and transport them on tricycles for sale in Uganda.
Wangudia said they had been kicked out of business after their goods were impounded. He added that they had now turned to begging for survival. โWhat does the Government want us to do because we cannot go to villages and start digging, ride boda-boda bicycles or load and off-load goods on vehicles,โ Wangundia said, adding that they have families to feed and children to educate.
It took Tumuhimbise over six hours to convince the group that had vowed to sleep at his office to leave. He promised that the RDC would look into their complaints and get back to them in two weeks.
Charles Kirunda, a URA official, said they had no reason to impound goods from persons with disabilities because the items are only sold in Busia town.
โCan you ride a tricycle for a distance of 35km to sell a jerrycan of cooking oil or a box of soap in Bugiri town?โ he asked.
He urged the Government to help the traders find alternative means of earning a livelihood.
Additional Information
Country: Uganda
Website: N/A
Email: N/A
Phone: N/A
Contact Person: N/A
Source: Email from: MORI, Soya
When: 24/11/2009
