Parliament has Wednesday tasked Government to investigate visa fees paid by foreigners due to claims that such payments are never receipted.
The matter was raised by Kampala North lawmaker, Latif Ssebagala who noted that the country is losing over $25Million to unreceipted visa fees paid by foreigners entering through Entebbe International Airport.
“The Visa fee which is paid by foreigners is $50 at every point of entry including Entebbe Airport; I want to know whether the Prime Minister is aware that when the visitors pay the $50 they are only given a stamp without a receipt,” Ssebagala said.
“Every year, we are having over 500, 0000 visitors at Entebbe International Airport paying $50 which is $25M a year without any document; is the Prime Minister aware that we are losing a lot of money since the money is not accounted for,” Ssebagala added.
In his response, the Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said Government was fully aware of this situation but clarified that the money is not lost because that stamp represents the receipt.”
This didn’t go well with members in the house which prompted Ssebagala to call for a clarification: “Every money that paid to URA goes straight to National coffers even if you are paying for stamp duty, you pay through the Bank but we are getting $25M through Entebbe without any receipt.”
In her ruling, the Speaker ordered the Prime Minister to order the relevant Ministries to investigate the case and report to the House after.
“Prime Minister, I think the matter is grave, if we have a hemorrhage of 30m just casually, what else are we losing, Can you direct the Minister of Internal Affairs to handle the matter.”
To this Rugunda responded , “ I will ask the Minister of Internal Affairs and Finance to look into this matter and within a month inform the August House to present a meaningful report and then have the matter settled.”