Traders, clearing agents at Entebbe Airport strike against URA, UCAA ‘extortion’

Several traders and clearing agents at Entebbe International Airport have entered a third day in a sit down strike over what they termed as extortion from the customs department of the Uganda Revenue Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority’s failure to regulate traffic at Uganda’s only gateway.

The strike which started on Tuesday this week as an aforethought of the traders who say, have been subjected to stringent measures of tax paying, with delays at the customs department and yet ground handling service providers such as the National Aviation Services – NAS charges the traders with no help.

The traders also accuse the Quality Assurance desk at the Uganda Revenue Authority for failure to have a focal person at Entebbe International Airport and instead traders have to travel to Kampala to have goods in Entebbe being cleared.

“If you have a customs desk at the airport, what is so big in having a quality assurance officer to sort issues relating to the clearance of our products? The more time we waste here, the more money we spend with ground handling services.” Richard Lule, one of the traders told this website.

More than 100 traders clear goods through Entebbe International Airport at a large scale every day. A clearing agent to asked not to be named for fear of harassment told this website that currently, the least a trader can part with to clear a handful of goods at the customs department is now more than Ugx 3.7 million.

“Some of us are even paying up to Ugx 37 million for just a few goods. We end up offering such goods to Ugandans at a much more expensive price, and yet no one wants to listen to us. This is extortion!” The source said.

The traders also accuse both the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority and the Uganda Revenue Authority of Instituting a very small and inefficient scanner which takes long to operate leaving traders to take long in cues and with heavy charges from the National Aviation Services, a ground handling department of the airport.

The current cargo terminal of Entebbe International Airport is said to be limited and cannot candle goods of up to 100,000 tonnes a day. The new cargo terminal constructed with funds from the Exim Bank of China is not yet in operation.

Well as government of Uganda instituted the free trade zone, it is said to mostly handle exports, leaving all importers struggling to access customs and immigration related services at Entebbe International Airport.

It is not clear when the strike is expected to end. However, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority Spokesperson, Mr. Vianney Luggya was not available for a comment on the matter as he could not pick our repeated telephone calls.

Immaculate Wanyenze, a Media Specialist at the Uganda Revenue Authority did not pick our repeated calls to clarify on the matter.

Entebbe International Airport handled 64,731 metric tonnes of cargo in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. The numbers slightly dropped to 59,720 metric tonnes in 2020. The average for 2021 is a minimum of 5,000 metric tonnes per month.

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