WHISTLEBLOWER! How URA Top Officials Force Employees, Tax Defaulters to Join Cult

By Francis Otucu

WORLD VENTURES, is a cult, operated by two top female officials of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).

This is a revelation of a whistleblower in a petition to URA Board Chairman, over a racket within the tax body that is reportedly aiding tax evasion and smuggling.

According to the petitioner, Nicholas De-Heer, the cult is headed by two born-again females; Agnes Nabwire Waiswa (Assistant Commissioner Customs Enforcement Division and Sarah Kasheka Mwesigye (Assistant Commissioner Customs Compliance & Business Analysis) and for smooth operations, venture members are in two WhatsApp groups; Reheboth (208 members) and Power Team (205 members) created by the pair.

The two groups, according to the 7-page petition, bring together 413 individuals comprising of URA staff and top business people in the country.

For one to join this group, you either have to be a URA employee or a tax defaulter. Being a member, you are guaranteed favor and protection.

“This is total corruption and extortion of money from people whom they supervise and this has as well as created the spirit of looking for such monies from cheating  the tax body by eating bribes but as long as you are an active ‘World Ventures’ member then you are protected,” part of the petition reads.

After recruitment, members meet in high-end hotels in Kampala while the same members are deployed through a well-built network with URA staff in Mombasa and operate throughout the transit routes, exit points and within Inland Container Depots and warehousing units. These members, according to the petitioner, pay US$100 per month.

“The mode of payments or remittances is that each must open up a VISA bank account and automatically the monies are deducted monthly to the beneficiaries,” he avers.

As a result of formation of World Ventures, the petitioner claims, the tax body is not able to meet targets while URA employees who decline (either ignorantly or intentionally) remain stagnant in one position without any promotions or benefits.

Against the above background, the petitioner wants URA board and the IGG to act on World Ventures.