Ugandans raise volume on social media tax protests
Ugandans raise volume on social media tax protests
AFP • July 24, 2018
Kampala (AFP) - Campaigners against Uganda's tax on
social media have been broadcasting calls on loudspeakers urging users not to
pay the levy, playing a game of cat-and-mouse with police, witnesses said on
Tuesday.
Since the start of July, access to social media networks,
as well as dating sites Tinder and Grindr, has been blocked unless users pay a
200-shilling ($0.05, 0.04 euro) daily tax.
In an unusual protest, a recorded message was broadcast
from loudspeakers on Monday at strategic points across the capital Kampala,
according to witnesses.
"Don't pay tax on social media and mobile money
transactions," it said. "It hurts your pocket and is driving us into
poverty."
Mobile internet users are required to input a code on
their phones to prove payment of the charge before they are able to access the
sites.
The scheme has met angry opposition from users, some of
whom have turned to virtual private networks (VPNs) to evade the fee while
others have joined sporadic street protests.
But open demonstration in the Ugandan capital Kampala is
uncommon as police and security forces quickly put down dissenting voices with
teargas, batons and in the case of a recent march against the social media tax,
live fire.
Police intervened to seize the loudspeakers on Monday --
but witnesses said the protest continued on Tuesday.
- 'Rise up against the taxes' -
"On Monday, police impounded the loudspeakers in
Kampala," police spokesman Emilian Kayima told AFP. "We shall get to
know who is behind it."
Kayima claimed the unusual protest action was the
brainchild of criminals who wanted crowds to form that would be vulnerable to
terrorist attack but offered no evidence for his claim.
Donati Kusemererwa, 53, owns a shop in Kampala's Kikuubo
commercial district and told AFP that protesters had stationed a public address
system outside his business.
"We arrived at work (Tuesday), we found the
loudspeakers on the main gate saying 'we don't pay the social media tax',"
he said.
"The voice on the recording says people should rise
up against the taxes imposed on us by government."
Mechanic Nelson Wabwire, 31, said similar setups been
found elsewhere in the city and confiscated by police.
"People now fear to be identified because police are
brutal. They resort to working quietly," Wabwire said.
Earlier this month Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said
that the government would review the tax after angry opposition but ministers
have since vowed to continue with the levy.
President Yoweri Museveni previously justified the charge
saying many Ugandans did not pay enough tax and should not "donate money
to foreign companies through chatting or even lying" on social media.
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