Uganda’s latest extractive-sector transparency report contains unreconciled differences in mineral and gold trade data, complicating the assessment of taxation, public revenue and the sector’s contribution to exports. The report identifies conflicting figures across tables and government agencies, while officials describe difficulties in tracing gold from informal mining sites through refiners and into overseas markets.
Two export totals in one report
The fifth Uganda Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative report, covering financial year 2023/24, records total mineral exports at about Shs11.8 trillion in one section. Another table, using data attributed to the Uganda Revenue Authority, puts total mineral exports at Shs119.2 billion. The difference is almost Shs11.7 trillion. The detailed mineral export table records 9.73 billion kilogrammes valued at Shs119.2 billion, with non-agglomerated iron ore representing 68.7 percent of the value, followed by vermiculite, perlite and chlorites at 20.6 percent. A separate URA-based analysis records gold exports at Shs11.816 trillion and imports at Shs11.477 trillion. The report does not reconcile the conflicting totals.
Why reconciliation matters for public oversight
The report is an example of an extractive-sector transparency process: figures from agencies and companies are brought together so that production, imports, exports and revenues can be compared. That comparison is useful only when the data has a clear source, a consistent definition and an audit trail showing how differences were resolved. Here, the report later uses about Shs119 million as the mining-sector export figure, producing an estimate that mining contributed 0.0004 percent of Uganda’s total exports, while it also records gold exports of Shs11.816 trillion. Those figures would lead to radically different conclusions about the sector’s economic importance. For businesses and public bodies, the transferable issue is that disclosure alone does not replace reconciliation between records.
The supply chain is difficult to trace
Gold production reported by the Directorate of Geological Survey and Mines was valued at Shs785.4 million in 2023/24, compared with Shs702.1 million the previous year. Gold represented 0.17 percent of reported mineral production worth Shs464.7 billion. That does not establish that all gold exported through Uganda was mined locally, because Uganda is also described as a regional refining and trading centre. Lawrence Muwonge, the Uganda Revenue Authority manager responsible for extractives, says artisanal mining makes it difficult to establish how much is produced, sold and bought. He also says refiners are easier to identify and track at export, but their sources of gold remain difficult to verify. These are officials’ explanations, not proof of wrongdoing.
Agency records and company figures also diverge
URA records show about 46,263 kilogrammes of gold exports valued at approximately 2.98 billion US dollars, while Bank of Uganda records show about 48,620 kilogrammes valued at approximately 3.09 billion US dollars. The difference is about 2,357 kilogrammes. Five major gold businesses reported imports of Shs11.477 trillion and exports of Shs11.816 trillion, with exports exceeding imports by about Shs339.4 billion. The report says timing, valuation, refining, stock movements or reporting classifications can create differences, but does not establish which explanation applies in Uganda’s case. The figures should not by themselves be treated as proof of missing or illegally sourced gold; they show why consistent records and beneficial-ownership information matter for tax and compliance checks.
| Measure | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Mineral exports in one UGEITI section | About Shs11.8 trillion |
| Mineral exports in the URA-attributed table | Shs119.2 billion |
| Gold exports in the URA-based analysis | Shs11.816 trillion |
| Gold imports in the URA-based analysis | Shs11.477 trillion |
| Reported domestic gold production, 2023/24 | Shs785.4 million |
| Difference between URA and Bank of Uganda gold export records | About 2,357 kilogrammes |
The question is therefore not simply how much gold Uganda exports, but how consistently the country measures gold from production through trading, refining and export.
WHY IT MATTERS
Conflicting production, import and export records make it harder to assess tax liabilities, public revenue and the economic contribution of mining. The report’s findings do not prove that gold was illegally sourced, but they show why extractive-sector reporting needs traceable data from the mine and company owner through refining and export.
Reported from independent.co.ug, 2026-10-12. The Tender Wire is published by Otnox.
