Cephas is a founder and the Managing partner of the firm. He is an Advocate of the High Court, a commissioner for Oaths, a Notary Public and a registered Tax Agent with Uganda Revenue Authority. He is also the head of the Tax Cluster in the Uganda Law Society and a member of the IBA tax Committee.
Cephas has over 35 years’ experience in Tax and 17 years in Legal having served in various capacities. He worked for Ministry of Finance from 1984 and later on Uganda Revenue Authority where he retired as the Deputy Commissioner in 2004. He represented Uganda in negotiations and drafting of various double taxation agreements for South Africa, India, Denmark, Mauritius and Norway. He was instrumental in drafting the Income Tax Act 1997 in Uganda and the Tax Appeals Tribunal Act.
From 2004, Cephas has emerged as the best Tax Lawyer in Uganda according to IFLR and Global Law Experts; and has offered his professional services to East Africa Community, World bank, International Finance Corporation Consultancies for the Malawi, Liberia, Nigeria (Bauchi State) Governments among others.
Cephas has carried out Several advisory, consultancies and also Litigation for individuals, private, public, NGO’s and Government bodies. He has made several presentations to ICAU, CATA, DANIDA, World Bank, International Bar Association, Uganda Law Society among others.
Birungyi, Barata & Associates (BBA) formerly Birungyi, Barata & Co. Advocates, was established in 2003 by Birungyi Cephas Kagyenda and Enoch Barata whose paths crossed at a coincidentally convenient time, one of them, a Deputy Commissioner retiring from a long career in tax administration and the other, an ambitious young lawyer, both pursuing a Diploma in Legal Practice. They dived into the highly competitive world of the legal industry forming what has been recognised as the pioneer specialist tax law firm in Uganda.
In 2016, Birungyi, Barata & Co. Advocates became Birungyi, Barata & Associates after being joined by Associates Jacob Ngobi, George Twinomujuni, the Late Juliana Semakula and the Late Robinah Lutaaya Lubwama.
The vision behind the firm was to provide efficient, professional, result oriented, expert tax and legal services and with time, it has indeed developed into a renowned tax advisory, consultancy, Legal and litigation firm recognized both locally and internationally by the Uganda Law Society, East African Law Society, IFLR and Global Law Experts.
With the growth and development of the Ugandan commercial industry and the dynamic legal environment, the firm has also expanded its areas of practice into Intellectual Property, Insolvency, Banking, Arbitration, Construction Law and Oil and Gas industry.
Uganda