Parliament has awarded MTN Uganda a contract worth Shs197m to provide monthly 5GB data for each MP amounting to Shs30,000, according to documents seen by this site.
MTN will also to provide monthly Over The Top Tax (OTT) aka Social Media Tax worth 6000 for each member of Parliament.
The Telecom Giant which is Uganda’s biggest telecom was competing with Airtel and Africell for the contract. It was, however, able to beat the competition.
This contract award comes more than 8 months after MPs passed the Social Media Tax amidst public outcry and anger.
The Tax was first suggested by President Yoweri Museveni in a letter to the ministry of Finance and was later passed by parliament in the excise duty amendment alongside a tax on Mobile Money Transactions.
There was resistance to the Tax including protests on the streets led by Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi.
A court challenge to the tax has not yet been heard, and some sections of the challenge have since been overtaken by events.
