By Otim Nape
State Minister for Finance & Economic Development David Bahati (his office staff call him DB) has urged Ugandans to get prepared effective July 2018 to begin parting with Shs36,000 for each of their simcards or telephone lines that must continue using whatsapp and other Over the Table (OTT) platforms like Skype, viber & twitter among others. Many Ugandans, for their own reasons, own and operate multiple simcards or telephone lines that are actively connected on these OTT platforms. This means somebody who owns four simcards/lines (and there are many such Ugandans) will have to part with Shs120,000 annually to secure the continued government authorization to enjoy these facilities. It’s not clear how government is going to enforce this against its citizens many of whom maintain they use their smart phones more for business than for leisure and gossiping (Lugambo) as the President said in his 12th March letter calling for the imposition of the whatsapp tax. Appearing on 91.3 Capital FM’s Capital Gang, which is the biggest weekend political talk show on the Ugandan airwaves, Bahati said the technocrats at his Finance Ministry have calculated that at that rate, the government will annually realize a minimum of Shs250bn in additional taxes (assuming each of the targeted telecom customers uses one line and pays the Shs36,000).
According to telecom regulator UCC, as of December last year, the number of dully registered active simcards stood at 32,207,783 (including 18,048,353 for MTN; Airtel’s 10,076,051; Africel’s 3,588,583; UTL’s 213,768; Smart’s 113,595; K2’s 81,904; Vodafone’s 62,998; Smile’s 19,809 & Tangarine’s 2,722). This means that if the President’s plan to have Xinlan Group of China (phone manufacturer) twin with the fast-revamping UTL to manufacture and make available cheap smart phones, many more Ugandans will become whatsapp (OTT) platform users and thereby increase revenue way above Bahati’s conservative figure of Shs250bn per annum. You can just imagine how much the Museveni state will realize in this whatsapp tax once all the 32m telecom subscribers become whatsapp users. “You guys like calling him the man from Rwakitura but I want to tell you that old man is far sighted. He always looks very far.
When you saw his letter directing all MDAs to buy internet services from UTL, you thought it was a joke. He simply wanted enhance and expedite the recovery of UTL to make it attractive to investors and so far over 20 global telecom actors have applied seeking to invest in UTL. Once UTL is properly strengthened and the investor is on board to have 49% leaving 51% for the GoU, Mzee is optimistic the Xinlan smart phone manufacturing will begin in Mukono and have many more Ugandans afford smart phones. Those will become facebook, whatsapp and other OTT users from whom the voluntary whatsapp tax of Shs36,000 will annually be collected and you can’t imagine how much extra revenue the government is going to realize,” said a State House official who is very close to the President’s scheme of things.
BACK TO BAHATI;
Bahati, who some say even stands a chance to replace his senior Matia Kasaija, eloquently explained during the Saturday talk show that he will be embarking on explaining to the MPs the importance of this whatsapp tax and thereafter implementation will begin under the FY2018/19 budget. Bahati explained that Ugandans should be supportive “because this increased tax revenue to government will enable us to serve them even better in terms of social service delivery.” He downplayed claims that government was becoming very exploitative to the poor Ugandans and said that “our tax ratio to GDP is actually still among the lowest in the world.” On obtaining permission of moderator Oscar Semweya Musoke, Bahati read out a long list of countries whose tax-GDP ratio is way above that of Uganda that he said is below 20%. Some of the countries he mentioned are developed economies whose example Bahati insisted Uganda must emulate. Panelist Semujju Nganda challenged Bahati by arguing that Ugandans have always been overtaxed yet this is not reflected in the quality of service delivered by the NRM government. Semujju maintained that the anticipated whatsapp tax is only meant to enable veteran leader Yoweri Museveni to build more capability to continue bribing and financially appeasing his opponents and other disgruntled Ugandans to prolong his stay in power. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755
