Former Presidential candidate, also Kyadondo East Member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu has rushed to the High Court in Kampala seeking to block the Uganda Revenue Authority from recalling his “armored” vehicle for a verification process.
The NUP Party President petitioned court through his lawyers of Wameli and Company Advocates, arguing that this is a political witch hunt and that he has been targeted since he participated in politics especially after the recently concluded presidential elections.
Kyagulanyi added that his properties, including vehicles, have been unlawfully impounded or retained by the government.
One of the impounded properties include a motor vehicle registration number UAT 416K (Tundra) which has been parked at Arua Central Police Station since 2018 following a fracas in the Arua Municipality by-elections where Kyagulanyi’s driver Yasin Kawuma was shot dead.
According to the Kyadondo East MP, all his other vehicles have either been damaged, destroyed or made unroadworthy by the government security agencies, prompting him to acquire the vehicle registration number UBJ-667F (Toyota Land Cruiser V8) in January 2021 to help him with transport and protect his life.
On February 24, 2021, URA through their Commissioner for Customs Abel Kagumire wrote to Kyagulanyi, demanding that he surrenders the said motor vehicle for re-examination by February 26 2021. He argued that their findings revealed that among others, the fact that the said vehicle was armoured was not declared during their assessment exercise.
However, Kyagulanyi argues that the said vehicle has been in the hands of URA Customs warehouse examined and assessed before it was registered and released to him.
He also claims that he has fears that he will lose his vehicle since URA states that they did inquiries that revealed many findings which he was not even privy to.
Kyagulanyi now says that by the said actions of URA, his right to property is being infringed upon. He therefore is seeking a declaration that URA does not have any powers to arbitrarily call for, threaten to pound his car for re-examination in as far as the East African Community Customs Management Act.
He also wants the court to issue a permanent injunction restraining URA and her agents from enforcing their decision in Kagumire’s letter.