The suspended Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Commissioner For Customs Asadu Kisitu Kigozi has gone missing according to his family members who clearly state they are also living in utter fear.
Asadu has been haunted by some individuals within the tax body since last year. “We are not aware whether our relative is alive. His known phones are switched off and he cannot be traced in any of the relative’s homes. We fear that he could have been kidnapped or harmed,” one of his relatives revealed on the condition of anonymity. Sources close to Asadu at URA contend that there has been a hatched plan to kidnap him and later dump him at the Anti Corruption Court for interdiction on baseless accusations. According to an insider, this was planned after his perpetrators failed to produce evidence on the allegations against him for the disciplinary hearing. Another source says that there has been a botched plan to kidnap him in the previous days since suspicious armed people have been seen near his home every evening.
This follows various letters by the URA Board Secretary Catherine Donovan Kyokunda to Asadu scheduling different disciplinary hearings at the 19th floor, URA headquarters. The meetings have hitherto flopped due to unknown reasons. However, it is on record that some elements within the tax body have tried to link him to the notorious smugglers but failed to get evidence to pin him. Fury raged especially when the preliminary investigations on the arrested notorious smuggler Timothy Segane and URA staff Emmanuel Lutaaya did not link Asadu directly.
Incidentally Segane’s phone records indicate that the other senior URA staff who include Henry Kwarigonza (Acting Commissioner Customs), Moses Kyomuhendo (Manager Enforcement Operations), Fiona Nyamurungi Tubeine (Manager Trade – transit Monitoring) were in constant communication with him (alleged criminal).
Having realized that his life is in danger, he sounded an alarm to the seemingly divided URA board for intervention. Asadu who is cognizant of the moves being made by his nemesis at the tax body raised concerns in the missive penned to the Board of Directors in which he exposed the suspicious and ulterior motives.
In the letter to the Board Members, which was copied to the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Attorney General, Inspector General of Government, the suspended Commissioner for Customs cites substantive irregularities by poking holes in the investigation process. He believes there is coercion and inducement of witnesses, failure to disclose material evidence, compromise of board members, unlawful extraction of electronic data and breach of statutory time limits and waiver of right to discipline officers among others. The self-effacing Asadu is not against the probe tagged to his name but his prayer to the URA Board is to commission an independent investigation conducted by external individuals and constitution of an independent committee to preside over the disciplinary proceedings, in line with the principles of natural justice and administrative fairness.
In response to his letter, on September 15, 2026, Emmanuel Katongole, the Chairman of Board of Directors wrote to Asadu explaining that it is within the mandate of the board to discipline and control the officers and staff of the Authority. “As a Commissioner, your office falls squarely within this category and the Board’s jurisdiction to investigate the allegations against you and subject you to the disciplinary process is accordingly not in doubt…..,” the letter reads partly. In the same letter, the board chair dismissed the allegations of coercion of witnesses and compromise of some board members but agrees that as a matter of fair hearing Asadu should with immediate effect be furnished with particulars of the case against him including any witness statements or documents the board intends to rely on during the hearing. The URA Board Chairman who seems to suspect that the Commissioner General could be having a conflict of interest proposed that the latter be excluded from the deliberation and decision on the matter. Having conceded that the process has taken longer than is desirable and that the repeated postponement of the hearing dates is a legitimate concern, Katongole fixed September 22, 2026.
The guidance of the Board Chairman seems to have displeased individuals within the tax body who want Asadu expedictiously prosecuted. And this leaves no doubt that his perpecuators are suspects to the alleged kidnap.
Watch this space!