Ugandan feted over URA digital milestone

CS Joe Mucheru (L) presenting an award to Uganda Revenue Authority's James Kizza

Uganda Revenue Authority’s James Kizza is the winner of the East Africa CIO of the Year Award 2019.

The assistant commissioner IT won for a role in trail-blazing digital development of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).

According to the judges, the role of the chief information officer (CIO) continues to evolve at a breakneck pace, and only those executives who advance in lockstep will enjoy prolonged success and better the enterprises that they dedicate their energies to serve.

The jury led by Professor Louis Fourie, former VC at the Western Cape Peninsula University of Technology flanked by, Alex Ntale CEO – Rwanda ICT Chamber, Bill Sangiwa, Digital Transformation Expert in Tanzania, Charles Musisi, a senior ICT Expert in Uganda and Elizabeth Ochieng, ICT Director, Deloitte appreciated the high level of submissions for the 2019 regional CIO100 awards.

Underscoring that incremental steps from the sheer deployment of IT are insufficient in the present-day economy, Ochien’g lauded Kizza’s achievement.

Upon receiving the award from Joe Mucheru, Kenya’s ICT Cabinet Secretary, Kizza said, it was an expected win though it took a long walk considering 26 years in public service.

Mucheru lauded Kizza’s win and noted that governments across the region are opening up for ICT collaboration with a clear focus to serve citizens better and hasten the growth of investments in this era of digital transformation.

In what was reckoned as a rare surprise, Safaricom’s Mpesa Foundation Academy scooped the Company of the Year Award that was handed over to Paul Githuka, the institution’s CIO, by Laura Chite, CEO – CIO East Africa. 

‘Kizza has been resilient and has over the years risked his neck for total digital modernisation so that the Uganda Revenue Authority can competitively serve the citizens of Uganda and by extension the East African community,’ said the jurists.

Currently, digitalization in URA stands at close to 96 per cent of the business and the filing of returns stands at 100percent said Kizza stressing that without IT the Authority would have no business.