[ad_1]
In an attempt to clarify Uganda's new daily levy for social media users, President Museveni, without irony, turned to Twitter to publish a statement, posted on his personal blog . The president who launched the social media tax in response to online gossip, now says that it aims to reduce capital flight and improve the country's tax-to-GDP ratio, which is 12%.
Social and traditional media to explain the move as a legitimate tariff. The thing is not a lot Ugandans are convinced. In fact, four members of parliament are collecting signatures for a reminder of the country's parliament (currently on vacation) to reconsider the tax, with a 1% tax on mobile money transactions.
It has been said that the newly introduced social media and mobile money taxes have provoked debates. To clarify, the tax on the sending and receiving of mobile money is 0.5% and not 1%. For the justification of these taxes, read my statement here: https://t.co/SLe1UFb7P2
– Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) 4 July 2018
The levy of 200 Ugandan shillings (0, $ 05) is a daily charge to access services like WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook. If the user does not pay in advance for these services, they can not use them.
It is resisted for many reasons, including arguments in favor of freedom of expression, net neutrality and affordable connectivity. Other arguments are against double and / or punitive taxation and impose taxes on individual users instead of the social media companies that actually make money. The most obvious however, is the opposition because it is part of the government crackdown on online expression.
Over the past eight years, Uganda has written or amended several laws to restrict the content that a Ugandan citizen can publish or consume online. He also set up a cyber surveillance police unit, a "computer emergency response team" within the Ugandan Communications Commission, a national badgraphy control committee and even attempted to get a badgraphy detection machine. Every citizen has been mandated not only to register with the government, but also to check his or her phone number using his or her national identity card, thus linking all phones to birth, residence and family details. of their owners
. In February 2016, the Uganda Communications Commission forced mobile network operators to block social media sites and mobile money services. The commission cited threats to national security.
Museveni won his fifth term in this election in February 2016 and has now led his country for 32 years, representing more than 70% of its citizens. In many ways, dealing with a young electorate that exchanges and shares views on the state of the country on global digital platforms beyond the control of the state often seems to be the cause of a lot of friction .
Ugandan Government Arrested In June 2015, Ugandan police arrested a certain Robert Shaka, suspecting him of being behind a social media account publishing critics and theories about the security forces and their leaders. He was charged with offensive communication under the Computer Misuse Act, a law written in 2011. At least two other personalities have been arrested and have also been charged under the same law since then. In December 2016, Swaibu Nsamba Gwogyolonga, an opposition politician, was arrested for a Facebook post bearing the image of President Museveni in a coffin.
Journalist Joy Doreen Biira was arrested and charged with encouraging terrorism in November 2016. a palace on fire. Uganda's anti-terrorism law was amended in 2015 to include the illegal possession of terrorism-promoting material, such as audio or video tapes, or written or electronic literature, on the list of acts tantamount to terrorism.
Dr. Stella Nyanzi was charged with cyber-harbadment and offensive communication in April 2017 for calling the president a "pair of bad" in a post on Facebook. The post was part of his current criticism of Museveni and his wife for canceling a campaign pledge that his government would provide menstrual hygiene products to schoolgirls. She spent 33 days in pretrial detention in a maximum security prison.
For Ugandans, the social media tax is not just another tax. This is the latest government effort to punish and discourage online expression. CIPESA, a think tank on Internet governance, estimates that the tax will increase the cost of connectivity by 10% for the poorest users. A GB of data will now cost about 40% of their average monthly monthly income. Another viral event on Twitter is therefore raging: #ThisTaxMustGo.
Sign up for the Quartz Africa Weekly Newsletter – the most important and interesting news on the continent, in your inbox.
[ad_2]
Source link
