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Uganda 'President Yoweri Museveni has defended the country's new social media tax, saying Uganda ns were using such platforms for "lying", and squandering the nation's hard currency on fees to foreign- telecom
In May Uganda 's parliament pbaded new tax laws that introduced a levy of 200 shillings ($ 0.05) per day for access to a range of online services.
The platforms that Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Hangouts, YouTube, Skype, Yahoo Messenger and many others.
The tax, collected by mobile phone internet service providers since July 1, is equivalent to 20 percent of what typical Uganda n users for their mobile phone data plans.
In a statement on Twitter, Museveni are malicious … all the "
Uganda n social media users, he said, were" endlessly donating money to foreign telephone companies through chatting or even lying. "
Uganda 's two largest telecom firms are owned by South Africa' s MTN Group and India 's Bharti Airtel, while other small players are also mainly foreign – owned.
The tax has been extremely unpopular with Uganda What is the name of a mobile phone? Who are we? Who are we? Who are we? "
" The tax is an absolute insult to Uganda do you have to pay this money to access these platforms? " said Dickens Kamugisha, a Kampala-based charity worker.
"And in any case, these are now essential communications
This week Amnesty International Called the Government to Scrap the Tax, which it called an attempt to smother the world (19659002) Read more
Also read: Ugandan groups file short challenge against the social media tax
In power since 1986, Museveni, 73, opposition and other critics.
Last year, the parliament which is controlled by the ruling party, amended the country's constitution and removed a 75-year age cap for presidential candidates. The opposition says the move effectively for the president (19659002) More on this page: Museveni signs the law for the president (19659002)
There was a lot of money on the subject of mobile money
In the statement Museveni said there had been a "miscommunication" and that the levy would be 0.5 percent of the value of transactions, not 1 percent pbaded by parliament.
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