Leading African law firm, Bowmans (AF Mpanga, Advocates in Uganda) has appointed top tax lawyer, Ronald Kalema, to head its Kampala office Tax Practice. This move is in response to the growing need for specialist tax advice in Uganda.

‘Tax matters have become a core concern for corporates and multinationals operating in Uganda, particularly in the wake of regular legislative changes, and the Uganda Revenue Authority’s focus on increasing revenue collection,’ says Ernest Wiltshire, managing partner of the firm in Uganda.

Kalema has 12 years’ high-level tax advisory experience, having held senior and managerial positions at several auditing firms in Uganda, including two of the ‘big four’ – KPMG and Ernst & Young.

Kalema has advised major Ugandan and multinational companies across various sectors on issues ranging from tax dispute resolution and tax audit support to tax restructuring, customs planning, international tax, transfer pricing, tax policy and the tax implications of private equity transactions and mergers and acquisitions. Notably, he has extensive experience in assisting clients whose tax disputes have reached the Tax Appeals Tribunal – a body whose case load has increased fourfold in the past six years.

‘This experience will be of great value to our offering to clients in Uganda as we will now be able to include specialist tax work in an increasingly complex environment,’ says Wiltshire.

In addition to an LLM in international taxation from the New York University School of Law, Kalema has a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Centre and an LLB from Makerere University, where he graduated among the top 5% in his year.

By virtue of his background in the auditing environment, he has strong financial, management and business acumen, as well as experience in tax-related training. Kalema was an accredited trainer at KPMG and has been an examiner for the Certified Tax Advisor course of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) since 2017.

He is also involved with the tax cluster of the Law Society of Uganda and has seen some of his proposals to the Parliamentary Public Finance Committee being adopted.

‘These are challenging times for corporates from a tax perspective, with proactive tax planning being at the forefront of corporate strategies,’ says Wiltshire. ‘Through our expanded service offering and Ronald’s high-level leadership, we look forward to adding enhanced value in this field to our clients in Uganda.’