Uganda Needs a New Constitution – Tamale Mirundi

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On May 30th 2018, Parliament approved social media tax that requires every social media user in Uganda to pay Shs. 200 daily to access social media. Ugandans were outraged by the tax because they saw it as a means to curtail access to information by the State. Most Members of Parliament(MPs) supported the social media tax saying it would generate additional income for government.

All 458 MPs have iPads that were bought using tax payers money to allow them to do parliament work. Parliament is set to provide them with monthly data and also pay their monthly OTT tax, if approved. Ugandans have expressed disgust. They feel the MPs crafted this tax, they are running away from it and putting the burden on the rest of Ugandans who have since complied.

Tamale Mirundi, a political analyst doesn’t have kind words for the legislators whom he says have misused Constitutional provision that allowed them to set their remuneration. Tamale says such powers need to be withdrawn by putting in place a new Constitution because the MPs have an ever-growing appetite for privileges that must be tamed.