A senior official at the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) allegedly accepted a bribe of Shs1.5 billion to award a dubious Kenyan company, Safaritech, a contract worth Shs15.7 billion to audit telecom firms and help the government plug revenue leaks to enhance tax collection.
Compounding the issue, a whistleblower report reveals that Safaritech was hired despite strong objections from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Uganda’s top intelligence agency under the State House, which is responsible for identifying and combating commercial fraud.
Sources indicate that DRI advised against awarding the significant audit contract to Safaritech, but URA disregarded this recommendation and failed to perform due diligence on the company.
We could not independently verify this information. When reached for comment, DRI’s Director, Brendan Wadri, declined to discuss the matter, stating, “that matter is not one I want to comment on.”
According to the contract signed in March 2023, under Procurement Reference Number UURA/ITD/CONS/22-23/01880, Safaritech was engaged to provide audit consultancy services for Uganda’s telecom sector, with a total contract value of Shs 15,716,832,682, along with a 5% revenue share from recovered amounts due to the telecom audit.
Earlier, Safaritech claimed that MTN Uganda had evaded taxes amounting to Shs1.5 trillion. A confidential source from MTN noted that tensions between MTN and URA escalated mid-year, with some URA staff approaching MTN for a “kitu kidogo” to reduce the tax liability, which was eventually decreased from Shs1.5 trillion to Shs260 billion.
A highly placed MTN source indicated that in August 2024, influential individuals in this country met with MTN and URA officials to negotiate a tax liability revision to zero. However, URA has yet to implement this agreement, instead lowering MTN’s tax obligation to Shs260 billion ($68.4 million), leading to a significant dispute between the two entities
MTN has accused URA of using “coercive tactics” to collect the Shs260 billion, calling the tax assessment “unfounded.” In a strongly worded letter to David Kalemera, head of the controversial State House Revenue Intelligence and Strategic Operations Unit, MTN CEO Sylvia Mulinge sought intervention, alleging “corrupt intentions” from URA. For years, President Yoweri Museveni has criticized URA as the most corrupt government agency in Uganda.
However, it raises questions as to why Mulinge addressed her concerns to Kalemera, when the investigation is under DRI’s purview. Kalemera’s office was only established in July 2024 and currently lacks capacity. Notably, sources suggest that Mulinge and Wadri are familiar with each other and have held informal discussions, prompting speculation about potential hidden motives from MTN.
Ms. Wadri, daughter of the well-known opposition politician Hon. Kassiano Wadri, who is remembered for exposing corruption as the chairman of the PAC, is reported to have a strong work ethic, similar to her father. Sources suggest she was brought into the Directorate to revitalize it after it had reportedly been inactive for five years, despite the government spending billions on it each month.
A Statehouse informant described her as resilient, having faced intimidation while fulfilling presidential directives. Her ability to change the agency’s dynamics has drawn praise, particularly for her investigation into Uganda Airlines mismanagement, we still attempted to get Ms Wadri’s say on the Uganda Airlines Investigation and we still got short responses “I played my part and let the other responsible agencies play their part too.”
When we tried to clarify reports about her resignation being linked to the SAFARITECH-URA-MTN controversy, she simply responded, “It’s clear that English comprehension is the problem.” Her rise to such a prominent position, despite her father’s opposition background, has raised questions about the President’s strategy. Many have labeled her a “mole” due to her father’s political ties, yet she was seen campaigning for the President in West Nile in 2021 and promoting a mindset change among local youth.
Some attribute her actions to her father’s defeat in the last parliamentary elections. We will continue to monitor developments to provide you with exclusive updates.
“That lady really made a difference; her impact was immediate!” said one insider. Initially, she was restricted from attending meetings with the UPF, URA, and UCC, as well as being copied on emails with telecom companies, because she refused to engage in discussions involving cover-ups and kickbacks.
“She really understood her role,” noted another source.
The appointment of an opposition figure’s daughter to such a position raises questions about the President’s decision-making process.
URA and Safaritech
In its agreement with URA, Safaritech pledged to acquire hardware (servers) and software licenses necessary for efficient telecom audits. Safaritech must provide the servers to URA once the telecom sector audit is completed.
Efforts by URA staff to travel to Nairobi, Kenya, for an inspection of Safaritech’s servers and systems have been thwarted by a senior official at the tax agency. Whether this this is the reason some URA staff have had their departments changed is something we are still investigating.
An intelligence report we have been chanced to get an excerpt of underscores the questionable nature of Safaritech. It notes the difficulty in tracing Safaritech at its listed address in Muthaiga, Kenya, and its dubious history, leading to skepticism about whether the servers were actually purchased. It is unclear whether this report has been communicated to the president. Alarmingly, it also remains a mystery why the government would permit sensitive private telephone records of Ugandans to be stored overseas.
Nevertheless, URA Commissioner General John Musinguzi Rujooki asserted in a letter to the president that he wanted to procure the services of an audit firm- could it be him who recommended SAFARITECH?
Meanwhile as per Ghana Revenue Authority’s explanation of its relationship with Safaritech Ghana Limited, it is stated that the company was engaged in 2018, with Andrew Chege as the Director. At the same time he was the Director of another supposed auditing firm registered in Ghana under the name 192G,which shared the same dodgy address with Safaritech Ghana Limited
From the investigative report, URA should have learnt a big lesson from the Safaritech Ghana mess.
Its is reported that Safaritech Limited is the mother company of Safaritech Ghana Limited, the company that audited MTN Ghana and concluded that between 2014 and 2018, MTN hid 30% of its revenue from government.
As a result of that audit, MTN was slapped with a back tax of USD773 million which included penalties and interest charges, but it was eventually scrapped after the dodgy history of Safaritech was exposed.
Records also show that between June 10 and August 17, 2020, Safaritech went through a series of activities including one appointment, two terminations of appointment, and filing for closure of office until its account actually went dormant before finally applying for shutdown in December the same year.
So by the time GRA contacted Safaritech to audit MTN, the company was actually a dormant company.
Its only website, the deleted one was the one that projected Safaritech Ghana Ltd, and then it said it is a subsidiary of Safaritech Kenya, which is headquartered in London.
When the investigations kicked off, they put the website in updating mode, and then completely deleted in within less than a week.
In all the countries where Safaritech claimed to have done extensive tax auditing and revenue assurance projects with the sponsorship from USAID, World Bank and IMF, there are no online footprints to confirm any of those claims were true.
From the report …..
Did Ghana Revenue Authority do due diligence?
The revenue authority came out in a press release to defend its dealings with Safaritech Ghana and insisted that they did carry out due diligence and that Safaritech Ghana has satisfactorily executed its duties in collaboration with GRA officials. It further stated that they too had not signed any contract with Safaritech UK thus has no business dealings with that entity.
The Redflags:
If the work was satisfactory, on what basis was the GHS8.2 billion back tax on MTN withdrawn considering Ghana is in dire need of money, and tax evasion is a crime.
Secondly if the work done was satisfactory as stated by GRA, it means that they were paid for the work done. How come upto date GRA has refused to disclose how much the work costed the taxpayer.
It is rather ironic that the heading of GRA’s press release used the term ‘Due Diligence’. Its is either GRA was dishonest in their press release of thry simply did not do due diligence of Safatech Ghana Limited.
If GRA did its due diligence, they would have realized the following easily:
• There is no company called Safaritech UK. There is Safaritech Limited, incorporated in the UK.
•On the deleted website of Safaritech Ghana Limited, the company itself claimed they are a SUBSIDIARY of Safaritech Kenya Limited with headquarters in the UK. So Safaritech Ghana Limited itself admits that there is a link between them and Safaritech Limited UK.
•Due diligence would have revealed to GRA that ANDREW CHEGE, who was named in the documents presented by Safaritech Ghaba Limited to GRA for the contract, is the same Andrew Chege named as the only director of Safaritech Limited when it was incorporated in the UK on June 20, 2016. It is the same Chege who is also the CEO of 192G a company whose website has since been deleted too, which shares the same street address with Safaritech Ghana Limited and claims to do similar jobs like Safaritech.
•That Safaritech Kenya Limited, of which Safaritech Ghana limited claimed to be a subsidiary, is registered in Kenya as company in GENERAL BUSINESS and nothing to do with all the claims Safaritech Ghana Limited made about itself on their defunct Ghana website.
•GRA claims that the street address for Safaritech Ghana Limited is 1 Kanda Link. But on their own deleted website, the address was stated as E69/9B Ablade Close which was discovered to be a ladies boutique.
So if Safaritech stated 1 Kanda Link in the documents, presented to GRA, what due diligence did GRA do to ensure that had staff and capacity to deliver on their job?.
(when the investigations started by some tech enthusiasts, Safaritech Ghana Limited deleted their website and were reported to have moved location to a place that is said to look like an abandoned house at Spintex.
•Even in the UK where they claim to be headquartered, Safaritech changed its street address atleast 3 times between June 20, 2016, where they were incorporated and March 16, 2021 when they were dissolved. It was also unearthed that Safaritech never kept an office at any of those London addresses- they were just virtual addresses the company used.
It’s unfortunate that the Uganda Revenue Authority has chosen to engage with this company, paying them with taxpayer funds and treating their judgments regarding MNOs as unquestionable. This is despite warnings and evidence suggesting that Safaritech Limited is a fraudulent, inactive entity. URA should be concerned about the questionable nature of Safaritech, unless there are individuals within URA and the government with interests beyond simply ensuring revenue for Uganda in this dubious situation.
Additionally, serious consideration should be given to the substantial data being sent to Safaritech, which lacks a digital presence in both Uganda and Kenya, where they claim to operate.
