Ex-dfcu Bank boss, Juma Kisaame, appointed URA Board Chairman During his time at dfcu, he grew the bank by tenfold, transforming it from a small UGX222 billion-asset bank in 2007 to UGX2.9 trillion at the end of 2018- with 65 branches and UGX1.4 trillion in customer lending.

The Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija has appointed Juma Kisaame (57), the ex-dfcu Bank boss as the Board Chairman, for Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) – Uganda’s tax revenue collector.

Mr. Kisaame, a long time banker, replaces Simon Kagugube (RIP), the deceased former URA Chairman and Executive Director, Centenary Bank. Kagugube passed away this mid-February.

Kisaame, started his 32-year banking career at Uganda Development Bank in 1988. Between 1992-2004, he became the Head of Finance at dfcu Bank till 2004 when he left for Tanzania as Managing Director of Eurafrican Bank in Tanzania- present-day Bank of Africa, Tanzania.

He returned to Uganda in October 2007 as Managing Director for dfcu Bank- a position he held till December 2018.

During his time at dfcu, he grew the bank by tenfold, transforming it from a small UGX222 billion-asset bank in 2007 to UGX2.9 trillion at the end of 2018- with 65 branches and UGX1.4 trillion in customer lending.

As at the end of 2018, dfcu was Uganda’s fourth-biggest bank by assets and third-biggest by lending and deposits and one of only 8 banks in Uganda with more than UGX1 trillion in assets.

Kisaame, who was once, between 2002 and 2006 the President of Uganda Leasing Association is also a board member of Jubilee Holdings Group, where he sits on the Board Audit & Compliance; and the Board IT Committees. The Aga Khan majority-owned Jubilee Holdings- is one of East Africa’s largest financial services group with subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Mauritius, and Pakistan. Its assets as at June 2019, were valued at USD1.2 billion.

He is also a former chairman of Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), Uganda’s Investment Promotion Agency.

He is a Makerere University-trained accountant.

Juma Kisaame, takes over the reins at URA in a tough time. The government has warned that due to COVID-19 related challenges, there will be tax revenue shortfalls of up to UGX82.4 billion for the remaining period of the FY2019/20 and about UGX187.6 billion in FY2020/21. However, advanced COVID-19 prevalence could cause wider domestic revenue shortfalls by as much as UGX288.3 billion in FY 2019/20 and UGX350 billion in FY2020/21. As a result, preliminary economic growth for FY2019/20 has been revised downwards from 6.0 percent to 5.2- 5.7 percent depending on the severity of the COVID-19 impact on Uganda.