Uganda Revenue AuthorityLegal Officer
Dec. 2021UgandaLegal Officer in the Legal Services and Board Affairs Department of URA, attached to Policy, Legal Advisory and Contracts Division.
While in this position, my duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to;
1. Providing legal advisory to Contract/Project Managers and Procurement Officers on contracting practices and procedures and making presentations on contract law and best practices during the annual Contracts Managers Engagement.
2. Drafting and reviewing Contracts for works, supplies, services, tenancy agreements, Revenue Collection Agreements with Banks, Service Level Agreements, Memoranda of Understanding, staff bonding agreements etc., upon perusal of instructions and relevant documents like Contracts Committee Minutes and bidding documents etc.
3. Ensuring compliance with the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act (PPDA), Regulations and Guidelines as well as other laws by ensuring that Agreements are drafted in accordance with the standard format provided by PPDA and that the organization complies with the Statutory Instrument requiring that contracts of UGX. 200M and above be submitted to the office of the Solicitor General for advice and approval.
4. As the liaison officer in charge of obtaining approvals for Contracts from the Solicitor General’s office for over one year, I have successfully built rapport and gained vast knowledge on the requirements and procedures for timely obtaining clearances.
5. Ensuring that draft Agreements are forwarded to the other party for perusal and that signed agreements are communicated to all relevant parties (the Provider, Procurement, the Board Secretary, Corporate Services and the User Department) to provide contract visibility and awareness, to support implementation.
6. Liaising with the Procurement Department and Contract Managers to track and ensure contract close-out, extension or renewal by updating and closely monitoring contracts on the URA e-contract management system that plugs contracts that are about to expire for action.
7. Liaising with the Finance Department to ensure that the funds are available for the particular Contracts being procured.
8. Drafting and issuance of legal opinions to taxpayers and various departments within the URA.
9. Carrying out research and drafting Private Rulings requested by taxpayers or other departments of URA.
10. Getting actively involved in the legislative drafting process and Policy recommendation such as the annual tax amendments process.
11. Engaging in legal secretariat work such as quality assurance of URA Notices.
12. Handling URA property management through boundary opening, acquisition of land titles among others.
13. Maintaining an up to date internal and external stakeholder matrix, property matrix, legal opinions matrix, contracts matrix and an Alternative Dispute Resolution matrix.
14. Performing any other duty assigned from time to time.
