Africa-Press – Uganda. Kuku Foods Uganda Limited, the operator of KFC restaurants in the country, has protested what it calls a high-handed and intrusive raid on its Kampala offices by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
In a November 20, 2025 letter to the URA Commissioner General, copied to senior government officials including the President, the company details an enforcement action it says “violated legal procedure and departed from established administrative practice.”
According to the company, URA officers accompanied by armed personnel entered its offices on November 19 and remained on the premises from morning until almost midnight, “forcefully extracting electronic information from company devices without prior notice and under armed supervision.”
“The presence of armed officers in a corporate workplace during ordinary business hours caused significant alarm among our staff and created an atmosphere entirely incompatible with the cooperative and transparent relationship we have consistently sought to maintain with URA,” the company writes.
“The manner in which the operation was carried out was exceptional in character, disproportionate in execution and wholly inconsistent with the standards expected in the lawful administration of tax matters.”
While acknowledging URA’s authority under section 48 of the Tax Procedures Code Act to access premises and examine records, Kuku Foods argues that the power “does not operate in isolation.”
It cites section 49(1), which requires the tax authority to first issue a written notice requesting information.
“If no such notice was served, it is difficult to understand how the deployment of soldiers and armed personnel to our office could be regarded as proportionate or procedurally justified,” the company says.
“Any information URA required could have been provided promptly and lawfully upon proper request, without resorting to measures that go far beyond what the TPC envisions for a cooperative and transparent compliance engagement.”
Kuku Foods adds that “the scale and manner of the operation were excessive and unjustified,” raising concerns about necessity, proportionality and legality.
The company also protests URA’s decision to reopen a previously concluded audit covering July 2019 to February 2022.
It says the audit was fully settled through an Audit Management Letter, and that reopening a closed period is permissible only under narrow statutory grounds such as fraud or deliberate misrepresentation.
“What was expected to be a structured administrative engagement instead unfolded as an enforcement operation,” the company says.
“Armed officers stormed our premises during ordinary business hours, causing immediate alarm among staff and disrupting normal operations.
“The manner in which the officers moved through the office, searching workspaces and positioning themselves over employees up to 11 o’clock at night, bore no resemblance to a routine tax inquiry. It mirrored a security raid.”
Kuku Foods further raises concerns about data protection compliance, saying URA officers accessed devices and extracted information “without clarifying how the data would be stored, secured or utilised.”
“As a multinational custodian of sensitive customer, employee, financial and operational information, we are legally required to ensure that all data is processed strictly within the confines of lawful purpose, necessity, minimality and secure handling,” the company notes.
“The officers did not explain how extracted information would be protected, how its integrity would be maintained or how chain-of-custody would be preserved.”
Kuku Foods is asking URA to explain the legal basis for reopening previously audited years and requests that any inquiry be limited to the unexamined period beginning March 2022.
It warns that reopening finalised audits “undermines the stability and reliability of URA’s administrative decisions.”
The company also wants written assurances that future engagements will follow legally prescribed procedures.
While pledging continued cooperation, it says this “should not be interpreted as acquiescence to processes that fall outside the limits of the law.”
Kuku Foods concludes by warning it may take legal action if its concerns are not addressed.
“Unless there is immediate remediation and written assurance within five days from the date of this letter confirming that URA will proceed strictly within the bounds of established legal standards, we shall take all steps necessary to safeguard our rights.”
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