Activists behind the protest against the Mobile money and Over The Top Services (OTT) aka social media taxes were Thursday morning thrown out of Parliament Committee of Finance, after MPs denied having invited them for the meeting.
The group made up of lawyers Godiva Akulo and Silver Mugisha and journalists Joel Ssenyonyi and Raymond Mujuni had appeared before the Committee to submit their views on the Excise Duty Amendment NO.2 Bill 2018 that seeks to reduce Mobile Money tax on withdraws from 1% to 0.5%.
The Committee lawmakers argued that the letter requesting for the meeting had been authored by Kyandondo East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, who is currently in prison and therefore weren’t aware of their role in the meeting.
The activists acknowledged that Kyagulanyi authored the letter, but pointed out the fact that the jailed Legislator had clearly indicated included them.
However, some of the members on the Committee protested having the group present in the absence of their leader, which prompted the Committee Vice Chairperson to ask the group to vacate the meeting, to allow MPs discuss the matter internally.
The group protested the manner in which they were treated, with Akulo arguing that this goes down to how people in Government have continued to look down on the youth, despite the fact that the youth occupy over 70% of the population in Uganda.
“The petty fobbing within the Committee was that you are saying these taxes must go, but we said that is ridiculous because we said this tax (OTT and Mobile Money) must go not all taxes. Some of those MPs are suffering from that spirit of arrivalism so they imagine they can talk down on us when we are giving information,” Ssenyonyi said.
He added: “So for them to talk in a very dismissive manner is very unjustified and uncalled for. We pay these MPs’ salaries to make laws for us, not make laws for themselves, so it is their duty to listen to us, as much as they may not agree with us, they have to listen to the youths.”
When the meeting resumed, the Committee Chairperson, Jane Avur announced that they weren’t in position to meet the group without their team leader and instead asked the activists to write formally to Parliament if they need to present their views.
In their statement rejected by Parliament, the group said: “The implementation of Act is being enforced through gate blocking and denial of access to the listed sites until payment of the said is effected, yet other OTT services not listed are not subject to the said blocking and denial of access thus precipitating unfair business discrimination in contravention of Article 21 of the constitution.”
The Activists also criticized Government for not carrying out any impact study on the digital economy and Ugandan digital SMEs, regulatory issues arising arguing that OTT Tax should be expunged in whole because it is a tax on OTT access, rather than on any goods or services transacted online.
